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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
FORTY-TWO senatorial aspirants
will have to convince the Commission on Elections they are not
nuisance candidates.
In Resolution 7832, dated March
2, the Comelec also denied the nomination of the United Opposition,
now known as Genuine Opposition, of former senator Anna Dominique
“Nikki” Coseteng as one of its official candidates because the
nomination was not filed on time.
The Comelec explained that the
UNO failed to comply with Comelec Resolution 7799, or the Guidelines
on the Filing of Certificate of Candidacy and Nomination of Official
Candidates of Registered Political Parties.
The Comelec’s law department
received Coseteng’s nomination on February 16, four days past the
deadline for the filing of candidacy.
Coseteng joins the roster of
independent candidates which include, among others, former senator
Gregorio Honasan and the actor Richard Gomez.
All 42 candidates summoned to
appear before the Comelec en banc were independents. Among them was
Theodore Aquino, who claims to be a close relative of Tarlac Rep.
Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd, one of the GO’s senatorial bets.
Eight of the 42 candidates were
found by the Comelec to be habitual filers: Orlando C. Abitona,
Eduardo B. Flaminiano, Gherry A. Guillergan, Merlito O. Lagata,
Daniel R. Magtira, Manuel A. Po, Francisco M. Tajanan and Camilo V.
Tiqui.
They filed their certificates of
candidacy during the past elections either for president,
vice-president or senator but were considered nuisance candidates.
Coseteng, Honasan and Gomez,
though they are independents, were not among the 42. The Comelec
said that while they may be independent candidates, the political
track record in the election of Honasan and Coseteng are
unquestionable.
“It can also be observed that
during the filing of their certificates of candidacy, the former
senators and Richard Gomez were accompanied by supporters and it can
be gleaned from there that they do have the bona fide intention of
running for the position of senator,” the Comelec said.
A total of 80 senatorial
aspirants file certificates of candidacy, with 35 nominated by
various political parties.
Under the law, the Comelec may,
on its own or upon the petition of an interested party, can refuse
or cancel a certificate of candidacy if it is shown that it was
filed to sow confusion among the voters by the similarity of the
names of the registered candidates.
The Comelec spokesman, Director
James Jimenez, said on Saturday that the 38 other senatorial bets,
whose candidacy were given due course, may still be disqualified as
in the case of Joselito Cayetano of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan.
Jimenez said a petition for
disqualification filed by Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano against
Joselito is pending before the Comelec en banc.
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