LAGUNA POLL BET DQ’D
THE RATIONALE behind the prohibition against nuisance candidates and the disqualification of bets who have not evinced a bona fide intention to run for office, is easy to divine.
The State has a compelling interest to ensure that its electoral exercises are rational, objective, and orderly.
Thus declared the Comelec 2nd Division as it denied due course and cancelled the candidacy of a woman using a man’s name for member of the House of Representatives in the 2nd District of Laguna in the May 12, 2025 national and local elections.
It was gathered that the woman using a man’s name filed her certificate of candidacy last October 6, but incumbent Laguna Gov. Ramil Hernandez, who is also running for the same position was prompted to file a petition before the Comelec to declare her as nuisance candidate.
The move came after it was learned that the woman has never used the name Ram prior to her filing of the certificate of candidacy as member of the House of Representatives.
Gov. Hernandez stressed that the respondent known in her community by her feminine name prior to the filing of her COC.
And it is only upon the filing of her COC that she adopted a man’s nickname which is remarkably far from her first name and more similar to the first name of the petitioner.
The complaint read: “The sudden use of this new nickname appears to be a calculated and deliberate effort to mislead voters into believing that she is affiliated with or related to petitioner, thereby confusing the voters and distorting the election results.”
He argued that well-established is the fact that the. respondent has never been addressed using a man’s name which she used in the filing of her COC.
At least two witnesses, also came forward and attested that they personally know the respondent and that they all hail from Barangay Tuntungin Putho, Los Baños, Laguna.
They stated in their sinumpaang salaysay, that the respondent was known in their place as her feminine name and that even in her Facebook account, she uses the female name.
The witnesses likewise declared that the respondent is virtually unknown in their town.
