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Comelec accepts Duterte COC for president


The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Thursday decided to accept the substitution of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as presidential candidate for PDP-Laban in the 2016 polls.

At a press conference, Comelec chair Andres Bautista said the en banc voted 6-1 to accept Duterte as substitute for Martin Diño, who filed a certificate of candidacy for president under PDP-Laban in October then eventually withdrew it, citing Duterte as replacement.

Duterte filed his COC to substitute through a lawyer last Nov. 27. He came to the Comelec main office in Manila last Dec. 8 to "reaffirm" it.

"This means he is now in our list of candidates," Bautista said. "It is an administrative move on the part of Comelec en banc."

Bautista declined on Thursday to name the lone dissenting vote in the en banc's decision, saying the resolution has yet to be signed by all seven members.

However, a copy received by GMA News' Joseph Morong showed that the lone dissenter was Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon, who cited the pending disqualification case filed against the mayor as well as the issue regarding his notarized documents.

In her note on the resolution, Guanzon wrote: "There is a pending case, Castor v. Duterte (15-194 (DC) wherein the petitioner alleges that Duterte's COC is void because it contains untruthful acts or misrepresentation. There is also the issue regarding his notarized documents, the truth or falsity of which must be determined before his COC is accepted."

Those who voted in favor were Bautista and commissioners Christian Robert S. Lim, Al A. Parreño, Luie Tito F. Guia, Arthur D. Lim, and Sheriff M. Abas.

The resolution, as read by Bautista at the press conference, said the Comelec resolves to "acknowledge and accept the certificate of candidacy" of Duterte, as part of the poll body's "ministerial function."

Bautista explained: "'Yung pagtanggap ng substitution is administrative in nature. Kumbaga titingnan mo lang yung form... 'Yung form nga mismo may kaunting [issue], pero pinagpasyahan, 6-1, na tanggapin na natin administratively, but subject to sa kaso."

Asked about the basis of the decision, Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said that as part of their ministerial duty, they looked at the COC only in its form.

"'Yung intrinsic issues, it has to be resolved by the [First] Division and then it goes to the en banc," he said.

Potential to be disqualified

Bautista said there is still "a potential" that the mayor may be disqualified, as provided by the resolution.

It reads: "This (the en banc's decision) is entirely without prejudice to the pending disqualification case in SPA No. 15-94BC entitled Ruben H. Castor vs. Martin Dino, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, and Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban, or any other case that may be filed against him."

The said case, which questions the validity of Dino's COC, was submitted for resolution on Tuesday.

However, the First Division set a hearing for it on Friday morning.

Lim, presiding commissioner of the division, said there is no rule that stops them from calling for a hearing even after the case has been submitted for resolution -- a practice that can be seen also in some cases before the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, a member of the First Division, said they subpoenaed the two lawyers who notarized Duterte's COC for president and certificate of withdrawal of his COC for reelection in Davao City to "verify some facts" about the documents.

Asked if the validity of Dino's COC will be tackled on Friday's hearing, Bautista replied, "'Yun siguro nga, malamang, ang lalabas sa hearing bukas."

Two functions

Bautista and Lim explained that the Comelec performs two functions -- administrative and quasi-judicial -- both of which applies in dealing with Duterte's case.

"Remember that the en banc, in accepting the substitution, is essentially performing an administrative function," Bautista said. "When the First Division is hearing the case, it is performing a quasi-judicial function. Then the decision of the division can be appealed to the en banc."

For Lim's part, he explained that the Comelec's administrative function may be likened to being an "election manager," while its quasi-judicial function puts it as judge in cases filed before it.

"If you compare the Comelec in the Philippines to the other electoral bodies, they're one of the few [in the world] that performs two functions -- administrative and quasi-judicial. We say quasi-judicial, parang hukom, para kang judge," he said.

He added: "[When we say] administrative, more as an elections manager -- making sure that elections happen, all paraphernalia are there, all the candidates are properly listed. Our administrative functions are more as election managers."

"So pagdating sa amin [ng aspirant], checklist lang: kung kumpleto 'yung papeles, okay, kasama ka," Lim said. —KG/RSJ/KBK, GMA News

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