Bet substitutions
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to disallow the substitution of candidates beyond the designated period to file certificates of candidacy for the 2025 mid-term polls.
As expected, various quarters, including the ordinary citizens throughout the country, said the poll body’s plan should be welcomed by all sectors of Philippine society.
Like other well-meaning people, we agree with the hard-hitting Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia, a top poll lawyer, that candidates should not deceive the nation.
“Whoever is the candidate, he (or she) should be open about it, file your COC,” Chairman Garcia said on Friday.
“Don’t be a front for someone who is, all along, the one who will be running,” Garcia told reporters during his visit to Guimaras.
Garcia said he will recommend the prohibition before the Comelec en banc.
Garcia said that during the filing of COCs for the 2025 polls, which is set from October 1 to 8, withdrawals will still be allowed.
However, the only allowable reasons for substitutions after October 8 is when the candidate dies or disqualified by the poll body.
“In the past, may mga naghahain ng kandidatura pero uma-atras pabor sa mga kakandidatong kapartido nila,” a voter lamented.
Thus, the poll body is on the right track in its plan to end candidate substitutions in the 2025 national and local elections.
