Bill amending substitution rule in election laws to be filed this week —Gatchalian

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday said he and other senators will file a bill amending the substitution rule in the Omnibus Election Code this week.

In a television interview, Gatchaian said the substitution rule "has become a tool for political use and that's not supposed to be.

"In fact me and a few other senators will file this week a law that will remove the substitution criteria," he told ANC in an interview.

"Definitely, the withdrawal criteria, because there are two: disqualification and withdrawal, so we’ll remove  the withdrawal."

Article IX, Section 77 of  Omnibus Election Code provides that: "If after the last day for the filing of certificates of candidacy, an official candidate of a registered or accredited political party dies, withdraws or is disqualified for any cause, only a person belonging to, and certified by, the same political party may file a certificate of candidacy to replace the candidate who died, withdrew or was disqualified."

Gatchalian, who is seeking reelection in the 2022 elections, said this will be applied not only in the national posts but also in the local level.

He explained that putting "placeholders" is not the intention of the substitution rule in the election laws.

"That's not the spirit of the law. The spirit of the law is once you file, you don't place placeholders in order to prolong the deadline," he said.

"And we will file a bill to remove that so that it's very clear so that it's very clear that there's disqualification and probably death that will be allowed for substitution," Gatchalian added.

Gatchalian pointed out that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) technically set the deadline of filing of certificate of candidacy on November 15 due to the substitution rule.

"The deadline is supposed to be October 8 but with allowing substitution, in effect is November 15. So my view here is there should only be one, which is November 15," he said.

"The logic why Comelec allowed October 1 to 8 is because they said they will start printing the ballots already, but they cannot print the ballots until November 15, after which, the substitution is completely over. So let's just make it November 15 and not prolong the agony of guessing who's gonna file, who’s not gonna file," he added.

Some senators have backed calls to scrap the substitution rule in the election laws, saying this has been "abused" by some politicians. —KBK, GMA News