Jimenez maintains no nuisance candidate among Eleksyon 2022 prexy bets

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has maintained there are no nuisance candidates among the Eleksyon 2022 presidentiables.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez explained anew that they consider an aspirant as an official candidate as long as they have “a bonafide intention to run for office at the same time if they have a legitimate shot at actually campaigning and then winning.”

“Hindi basehan ang pagiging unknown, hindi basehan ang pagiging neophyte, hindi basehan ang pagkakaroon ng kakaibang ideas,” Jimenez said in an ANC interview.

“The Comelec will not substitute its own judgment for that of the Filipino people. If these people are qualified based on the standards granted by the Constitution then we have no choice. It’s not like Comelec can say 'no we think this guy will not win so 'wag na natin patakbuhin (we should not allow him to run).' That would be substituting our judgment for that of the Filipino people,” he added.

Asked whether the poll body should have made the criteria tighter, Jimenez said they will still receive criticisms should they implement stricter requirements.

“When we were a little tighter with the capability to run, everyone was complaining as well, saying that how can you just be looking at the money when there are other means of running. And that’s entirely fair but now that everyone’s running, now are we saying that we should be tighter? I mean you know, let’s make up our mind,” he said.

“Remember... we had almost a 100 candidates for president to start with and we were able to bring it down to 10 again by applying the standards of the law. If you want to go deeper than that you’re going to have to talk to the Filipino people.  Do not vote for them. If they make noise now, then don't pay attention if you think that they are not really worth paying attention to,” he added.

Jimenez further asserted that the democratic space of the elections should be expanded rather than contracted.

“We should expand democratic space rather than contract it. That’s one of the biggest problems really when you think about democracy is that a lot of people feel that you should restrict it to one or two deserving people,” he said.

“Ano ba ‘yung deserving? Alam mo magkakaproblema tayo d'yan when we start talking about who deserves to run. Under the Constitution, everyone has the right to run subject to conditions and if they were able to meet those conditions, they should be able to run whether or not we feel personally or as a group that they have a chance of winning actually or if they don’t deserve to win, that’s a different story altogether and that is a question that should be left to the electorate,” he added.

The presidential candidates for the May 9 polls are former presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella, labor leader Leody de Guzman, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso, former Defense chief Norberto Gonzales, Senator Ping Lacson, businessman Faisal Mangondato, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., cadiologist Jose Montemayor Jr., Senator Manny Pacquiao, and Vice President Leni Robredo.—AOL, GMA News