The petition of the PDP-Laban faction led by Secretary Alfonso Cusi to reopen the period of filing certificates of candidacy (COCs) and postpone the printing of the official ballots for the May 2022 elections is indeed unprecedented. Like a vagrant, it has no visible means of legal or factual support and should immediately be dismissed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The period to file COC was set by the Comelec from October 1 to 8, 2021 pursuant to its power “to set the deadline of filing COCs” under Section 15 of RA 9369. This was implemented by the Comelec under Resolution No. 10717 which was promulgated on August 8, 2021.
Said resolution could only be reversed by the Supreme Court if Cusi could prove that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in providing for the said period of filing COCs. Cusi cannot just claim that the period set by the Comelec was “unreasonable, unnecessary and legally impossible.” But said resolution could only be assailed before the Supreme Court within a period of thirty (30) days upon its promulgation. Since it was promulgated on August 8, 2021, the deadline to appeal to the Supreme Court was September 8, 2021. Clearly, it is too late for the day for Cusi to question the said Comelec resolution.
Likewise, the pendency of disqualification cases of some candidates and resolution of other issues involving party-lists is not a valid reason to postpone the printing of ballots as it would greatly affect the timetable of the Comelec in preparing for the May 2022 elections. Anyway, the said disqualification cases are well-taken cared of by Section 6 of RA 6646 which provides for the procedures to be followed “if for any reason a candidate is not declared by final judgment before an election to be disqualified and he is voted for and receives the winning number of votes in such election.”
Lastly, it is so surprising to note that a political party like PDP-Laban which claims to be the “ruling party” could not even come up with its own presidential and vice-presidential bets at this stage of the May 2022 elections. And Cusi’s claim that its party “did not have time to remedy the political vacuum created by Senator Ronald Dela Rosa’s withdrawal of his candidacy for President” might affect its accreditation as the dominant majority party in the said election.
ATTY. ROMULO B. MACALINTAL
Election lawyer
Las Pinas City