There are ten candidates for president of the Philippines, including one who refuses to attend debates as a matter of calibrated packaging and four who should have been declared as nuisance candidates.
It is hard to fathom what purpose Faisal Mangondato has for joining the race. Don’t get me wrong – I like the idea of a Moro running for president. But that candidate cannot be Mangondato. He gropes for answers and clearly has no platform of government. He lulls us to sleep. Does he even have followers?
The law department of the Commission on Elections is tasked to weed out aspirants from the list of candidates for national offices. Section 69 of the Omnibus Election Code empowers the Comelec to cancel a certificate of candidacy if, a) the candidate puts the election process in mockery or disrepute, b) the candidate’s inclusion causes confusion by the similarity of names with registered candidates, or c) “the candidate has no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the certificate of candidacy has been filed and thus prevent a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate.”
Mangondato appears to belong to the third category for nuisance candidacy, but so do Norberto Gonzales, Ernesto Abella, and Joey Montemayor. While we can understand that they are all independent candidates in the sense of not being allied with any of the traditional party politics, our political parties are porously leaky and transient. In the case of Abella, can we truly say he is independent given his long association with Rodrigo Duterte?
Gonzales, on the other hand, adheres to a social democratic ideology, but is he truly independent from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was once his principal? Previously accused of plotting a coup against the second Aquino presidency, Gonzales rather cuts the figure of a political adventurist. Albeit not devoid of national government experience, Gonzales is now effectively a has-been.
The issue of Comelec declaring nuisance candidates for the 2022 elections, however, has been rendered complicated. In 2018, Comelec declared senatorial candidate Norman Cordero Marquez a nuisance candidate in the May 13, 2019 national elections. It contended that Marquez had no clear proof of financial capability to wage a national campaign. Marquez took his case to the Supreme Court.
Comelec’s argument was Marquez “was virtually unknown to the entire country” and that “he had no clear proof of financial capability to sustain a nationwide campaign.” The SC ruled otherwise, saying the Comelec could not declare a national candidate a nuisance solely on the basis of lack of proof of financial capability.
For this current election, 97 filed certificates of candidacy for president. Comelec pared this down to ten using its power to declare nuisance candidates. One was named Tiburcio Marcos who was rejected for having the same surname as another candidate.
Comelec, however, did not draw the line on the four.
Conventional wisdom tells us that some financial wherewithal is needed to hire poll watchers on election day up until the completion of counting. Then there is the matter of mounting a national campaign complete with all its collateral posters, leaflets, ads, etc.
But how does one draw the line in the case of Manny Pacquiao? The man has wealth to spend. He even handed out crisp bills in public before the campaign period began. He can financially sustain a nationwide campaign. But does he have the ability to run the country?
In the debates, Pacquiao cannot articulate spontaneously beyond what he memorizes. He has good intentions, but not the skills and competence. In the last debate, he said he was not against political dynasties. He says that because he has one. That is his red flag. Once his boxing fortune runs out, his dynasty will be confronted with the temptation to steal public money from their pork windfalls. He should already withdraw, for he has become a nuisance candidate in the process.
Running for the presidency obviously requires more than just narcissism, quixotic dreams, and promptings from “god.” It is also more than just enriching one’s bank account by pocketing leftover campaign contributions no matter how legal that may be, as Isko Moreno Domagoso had honestly but naively admitted. That admission has made him an immoral choice. And for that, he satisfies the third ground for being a nuisance candidate – having no bona fide intention to run. He too should withdraw.
Of course the basket case in this election is Ping Lacson, who once advocated the withdrawal of an opposition candidate to unite against a strong opponent. Ping’s problem is he was neither here nor there in the Duterte presidency when senate hearings touched on extrajudicial killings, the Customs shabu mess, and the Pharmally scandal. He never fit the bill of an opposition fiscalizer. He is a clever player who ensures his safety. He too does not pass as someone who has bona fide intentions to run as presidential candidate.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
