Palace: Series of substitutions, withdrawals among admin allies before deadline no deception

The jumble of substitutions and withdrawals of certificates of candidacy among administration candidates and allies just before the deadline is not tantamount to mocking or deceiving the people, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque declared Monday.

“Wala pong panloloko dahil ito po ay allowed sa ating batas [There is no deception here because substitution is allowed under our laws],” Roque said.

Pressed if such a strategy is legally right but morally wrong, Roque replied by saying he does not respond to questions of morality.

On Saturday, the penultimate day of the period of substitutions and cancellations allowed by the Commission on Elections, Senator Bong Go of ruling party and Duterte-chaired PDP-Laban withdrew his certificate of candidacy (COC) for vice president in the 2022 polls and instead filed to run for president under another party, Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS)—a move that came after Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte filed to substitute Lakas-CMD bet Lyle Uy as a vice presidential bet.

Earlier that week, Mayor Duterte dropped her reelection bid, quit her regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago, and joined Lakas-CMD.

Also on Saturday, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, also of Duterte-chaired PDP-Laban, withdrew his COC for president as well.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who accompanied Go during the latter’s substitution filing, said he would run for vice president—which would put him directly up against his daughter Sara.

On Monday, however, Go said that the elder Duterte would instead run for a Senate seat.

“Sa ngayon po, ‘yan po ay legal [As it is, substitution is legal],” Roque said.

He was referring to election laws allowing substitution of candidates, provided that they are from the same political party, until November 15.

Roque added that the filing of candidacy should be closer to the start of the campaign period to discourage substitutions.

“The period for filing candidacy is too far from the campaign period which starts in February [2022],” he said.

“There should just be a lead time to allow printing of ballots, so the filing of candidacy should be allowed until November [prior to the year of election],” he added.

While the deadline of substitution is on November 15, the filing of COC has been scheduled last October 1 to 8.

The campaign period for national candidates in the 2022 elections starts in February 9, 2022 or 90 days before election day. — BM, GMA News

Palace: Series of substitutions, withdrawals among admin allies before deadline no deception
Source: Filipino Viral News PH