Tulfo wants elected officials deemed resigned upon filing of COC for another post

A bill filed in the Senate seeks to deem an incumbent elected official resigned upon filing his or her certificate of candidacy (COC) for another elective post, including president and vice president.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, an elective official who files a COC for any position other the one he or she is currently holding in a permanent capacity, with the exception of the positions of president and vice president, is deemed to have resigned from that office.

But according to Sen. Raffy Tulfo, author of Senate Bill 1683, the code favors those who seek the presidency and vice presidency as it allows losing candidates to return to their old positions.

In his explanatory note, Tulfo said the existing law denies the same benefit and privilege to candidates for other elective offices, "treating them as though they had already resigned regardless of the election's outcome."

"The passing of Republic Act No. 9006, often known as the Fair Elections Practices Act, which disregarded Section 67 of Batasang Pambansa 881 (Omnibus Elections Code), made the situation even worse," Tulfo said.

"The current state of the law allows any elective public official to run for any other position than the one he or she is currently holding without running the risk of losing," he added.

The current system, Tulfo said, also encourages political adventurism and unfairly unburdens the Commission on Elections (Comelec) with unnecessary administrative and operational work. —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA Integrated News