Roy Señeres’ name stays as Comelec starts printing 57M ballots

The name of the late presidential candidate OFW Family party-list Representative Roy Señeres stayed on the ballots that the Commission on Elections started printing on Monday afternoon.

Over 56.7 million ballots will be printed by the Comelec for the national and local elections on May 9.

Señeres' name stayed on the ballot as the sixth option for the presidency as issues on substitution from his political party, Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka (PMM), remained unresolved.

6 candidates each for president and vice president in the official ballot. Printing starts today. pic.twitter.com/XOxYXduIJt

— R-A. Dioquino (@AicaDioquino) February 15, 2016

"Kasama pa po si Seneres dahil ayon sa Section 77 ng ating Omnibus Election Code, pag ang isang kandidato ay pumanaw, binibigyan ng pagkakataon ang kaniyang partido na i-substitute ang kandidatong 'yan hanggang sa araw ng halalan mismo," Comelec chair Andres Bautista said in a press conference at the National Printing Office.

"Kami po ay nakatanggap ng liham mula sa partido ni Ambassador Seneres, at sa kaniyang pamilya rin, na baka nga merong i-substitute sa kaniya. Kaya't iniwan namin 'yung kaniyang pangalan sa balota," he added.

Conflicting requests

Señeres died on February 8 when he succumbed to cardiac arrest caused by complications from his diabetes. He was 68.

A few days before his death, Señeres expressed his intent to back out of the presidential race as he sent representatives to file his statement of cancellation/withdrawal.

The Comelec, however, did not accept his statement because personal appearance is required in such instances.

The day after his demise, Señeres' party filed a notice of death. In it, they also asked Comelec to keep his slot in the ballot "vacant" for the substitute they would nominate.

Hours after the said filing, PMM named its substitute, lawyer Apolonia Soguilon, who was earlier deemed a "nuisance" candidate.

But Señeres' family filed its own manifestation asking the Comelec to grant his last wish to withdraw his candidacy without any substitute.

His party sought the denial of that request.

Asked if the poll body will honor Soguilon's substitution, Bautista replied, "Hindi po puwede dahil hindi po kaapelyido."

Brother eyes party nomination

Under rules on involuntary substitution—in case of death or disqualification—a political party has until mid-election day to field its substitute, provided that he or she is a member of the party and carries the same surname.

On Monday, party president Jose Malvar Villegas Jr. received a letter from the late representative's brother, Ramon Ike, who said he was willing to be the substitute candidate.

This is despite the earlier pronouncement of Señeres' daughter, Hannah, that the family is not fielding nor endorsing any candidate for president.

The late congressman's brother invoked the Comelec's pronouncements that only a person with same surname may substitute a candidate who dies after the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy.

"The undersigned is a younger brother of Representative Señeres and in accordance with the announcement of [Commission on Elections] Chairman [Andres] Bautista that whomsoever is nominated by PMM-WPP as a substitute candidate should have the same surname, the undersigned believed that he has all the qualifications to substitute for his brother," Ike Señeres said in his letter dated February 14.

According to his letter, he was a press attache at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, bureau chief of the Philippine News Agency also in Washington, and a consular assistant at the Consulate General of the Philippines in New York City.

He also listed his various positions in government as an expert in management information systems. —NB, GMA News
 

-NB, GMA News