Mar Roxas asks Comelec to disqualify namesake

Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas has asked the Commission on Elections to disqualify and declare a nuisance a namesake who also filed a certificate of candidacy for president.

The former interior secretary, whose full name is Manuel Araneta Roxas II, alleged that Manuel Antonio Roxas, if allowed to run, would "confuse voters (who) may unintentionally vote for respondent Manuel Antonio Roxas."

“Respondent Manuel Antonio Roxas clearly filed his COC for President to create confusion among the voters through the similarity between his name and that of petitioner Manuel Araneta Roxas,” the LP stalwart said in his petition before the Comelec.

Manuel Antonio Roxas, 67, filed his COC on October 16, 2015 and wrote “Mar Roxas” as his nickname.

The more prominent Roxas said he had always been known as “Mar” and had used this moniker in several elections.
 
He expressed fear that if Manuel Antonio Roxas’ COC is not canceled, the latter’s name would appear next to his in the ballot.

Roxas also alleged that his namesake did not have the means to wage a national campaign for the presidency and had no intention to carry out a genuine campaign.

Meanwhile, the Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the commission's law department was set to recommend that the en banc declare more than a hundred individuals who filed for the presidency last week nuisance candidates.

Only five out of the 130 COC filers for president have been found to be serious and capable of mounting a nationwide campaign for the highest elective post. The 130 individuals represent the most number of COC filers for the presidency in an election since the EDSA Revolution in 1986. —NB, GMA News