2016 polls draw highest number of presidential wannabes

An unprecedented number of individuals applied for the country’s top post last week at the Comelec Main Office in Intramuros, Manila. 

 

Of the 130 who filed their Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for President, only five yet-unnamed aspirants have made the cut, according to the recommendation of Comelec’s Law Department. 

 

The last time the country saw a five-way presidential race was in 2004, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ran against popular actor Fernando Poe Jr., senator Panfilo Lacson, former senator and education secretary Raul Roco, and Jesus is Lord evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva. A sixth presidential bet, Eddie Gil, was initially allowed to run but was eventually disqualified as a nuisance candidate.

 

Comelec allowed as many as ten presidential candidates to run in past elections. In 1998, Vice President Joseph Estrada went up against House Speaker Jose de Venecia, three senators (Roco, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Juan Ponce Enrile), Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Defense Secretary Renato De Villa, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chair Manuel Morato, former Cebu Governor Emilio Osmeña, and one Santiago Dumlao. It would have been 11 had then former First Lady and Leyte 1st District Rep. Imelda Marcos not backed out of the race.

 

The 2016 elections attracted a total of 321 Presidential, Vice Presidential, and Senatorial aspirants, and Comelec has until December 10 of this year to whittle down the long list of wannabes to a more manageable level.

 

The number of those who filed their COC for President last week is the most number of presidential aspirants on record for any election under the 1987 Constitution.

 

As before, the race for the President’s “spare tire” drew fewer applicants. Only 19 filed their COC for Vice President, just one more than those who sought the post in the 1992 elections.

 

The number of filers of COC for Senator last week is considerable at 172, although nowhere near the record 286 senatorial aspirants in the 1992 elections. A total of 24 Senate seats were up for grabs back then.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, Comelec will be busy determining who among the COC filers are qualified to run for the posts they seek. 

 

The qualifications for those seeking national posts are simpler than those found in job classified ads. According to the 1987 Constitution, one must be a natural-born Filipino citizen, a registered voter, and literate (able to read and write) to qualify as President, Vice President, or Senator. 

 

There are age and residency requirements, as well: the President and Vice President must be at least 40 years old on the day of election and must be a resident of the country for at least 10 years immediately preceding election day; Senators must be at least 35 years old by election day, and a resident of the country for not less than two years immediately preceding election day.

 

Comelec will also be weeding out the “nuisance” candidates. They are those who filed their COC to put the election process in mockery or disrepute, those who would cause confusion among the voters because their names are similar to the registered candidates, or those who do not have a bona fide or genuine intention to run for office.

 

Circumstances or acts that demonstrate or indicate the lack of such “bona fide” intention include:

 

 

Persistent COC filers

 

GMA News Research identified from among last week’s COC filers at least 58 individuals who have been declared by Comelec as nuisance candidates in previous elections.

 

The most persistent COC filers in this crop of wannabe national elective officials are senatorial aspirants Daniel Magtira and Melchor Chavez.

 

Magtira has not missed applying for a national post in the past five national elections. He vied for a Senate seat in 2001, 2007, and 2013, and sought the Presidency in 2004 and 2010. Chavez, despite skipping a couple of election years, consistently filed a COC for senator at least five times before -- in 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2013.

 

Also in last week’s lot of COC filers for national posts are a few aspirants who were once legitimate candidates but were disqualified later on.

 

Take the case of presidential aspirant Vetellano Acosta, whom the Comelec originally counted among the nuisance candidates in the 2010 elections. The poll body reconsidered and allowed him to run in 2010 when the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan Party adopted him as their presidential bet. 

 

Acosta was considered a legitimate candidate while Comelec was hearing a disqualification case filed against him by then Senator and presidential candidate Benigno Simeon Aquino III. By the time Comelec disqualified Acosta, his name had already been printed on the ballots, just above Aquino’s. Acosta obtained 181,985 votes. 

 

In granting Aquino’s petition, Comelec noted that even Acosta’s vice presidential running mate, Jay Sonza, claimed he did not know Acosta and refused to campaign for him. Acosta himself did not join KBL’s campaign sorties.

 

Senatorial aspirant Gerardo del Mundo of Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka was a senatorial candidate in the 2004 elections. He ran under Eddie Gil’s Partido Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa but lost. 

 

Del Mundo went on to file his COC for senator in 2007 and his COC for vice president in 2010. Comelec denied due course to both applications.

 

Like Del Mundo, senatorial aspirant Alvin Almirante Bersales was a senatorial candidate in 2004. He went by the name Alvin Alvincent Almirante then. Despite faring poorly in 2004, he vied for the next higher national post in 2010 but was disqualified by Comelec.

COC Filers for 2016




—JST, GMA News