Comelec hearing on Duterte’s presidential run set on December 16

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) First Division has scheduled on December 16 its hearing on the petition against Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte's presidential run as the PDP-Laban's substitute candidate.

The hearing falls on the day after the Comelec's scheduled release on December 15 of its certified list of candidates—excluding those that have been deemed nuisance—for the 2016 elections.

The petition against Duterte’s substitution was filed by Ruben Castor who argued that the substitution was invalid because the PDP-Laban's original candidate for president Martin Dino filed a certificate of candidacy to run for mayor of Pasay City; not one to run for president.

On November 27, Duterte filed his COC for president after hemming and hawing about running for president.

“The COC of respondent Diño is for mayor of Pasay; therefore, he can withdraw his candidacy only for mayor of Pasay, and not for president,” Castor said in his petition.

Castor added that Diño’s COC could not be considered a valid COC for president and Duterte could not substitute for the position of president.

Aside from the petition before the First Division, the petition to declare Diño as a nuisance candidate is also pending before the Comelec’s Second Division, the same division that disqualified Sen. Grace Poe for lack of residency. —NB, GMA News