A 41-year-old marine engineer, who identified himself as Joselito Pepito Cayetano, has officially declared his intention to seek a Senate seat.
This Cayetano, who registered his nickname as "Peter" in his certificate of candidacy (COC), will be running under the opposition party Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).
"I want to serve the poor," Cayetano said when asked why is he running in the midterm polls.
He clarified he is not related to the prominent political clan of the Cayetanos from Taguig-Pateros.
Still, election officials warned the candidacy of the KBL candidate might adversely affect the congressman’s chances of winning – if he is allowed to run.
"Votes intended for Alan Peter Cayetano may be credited to him," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But Comelec legal department director Aliodin Dalaig noted that the KBL candidate still needs to prove his capability to launch a nationwide campaign before he can become a bona fide senatorial bet.
"A senatorial campaign requires organizational setup. It’s not a joke mounting a nationwide campaign. They have to reach the provinces and let their platforms be known to the people there," Dalaig explained.
According to Dalaig, the Comelec legal department will evaluate the COC of each senatorial candidate and submit their recommendation to the commission en banc.
Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos said the poll body might declare a senatorial bet as "nuisance" if he or she does not possess the legal qualifications of office, or if the candidate’s COC "puts the election process in mockery or could cause confusion among voters."
The congressman Cayetano sees First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo’s hand behind his namesake’s dream of becoming senator.
Saying Mr. Arroyo is out to destroy his votes in the May 14 polls, Cayetano alleged the First Gentleman has been looking for a candidate surnamed "Cayetano" to field against him so that his votes would be invalidated.
"A certain Pepito Cayetano filed his certificate of candidacy over the weekend, and we are now checking if the First Gentleman had something to do with his decision to run for senator. We are planning to file a disqualification case against Mr. Cayetano," the lawmaker said.
Cayetano said what aroused his suspicion was the fact that the Pepito Cayetano was accompanied to the Comelec office in Manila by Marcos loyalist Oliver Lozano, who is seeking a Senate seat under the banner of the Marcos-era KBL.
In July 2005, opposition congressmen accused Lozano of working for the administration by filing an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo ahead of them and other administration critics. Lozano denied the accusation.
One month later, Mrs. Arroyo’s House allies dismissed the opposition’s impeachment complaint on the ground that the first petition filed – that of Lozano – was the valid impeachment case. Subsequently, they also threw out the Lozano petition for lack of merit.
In July this year, administration critics made sure that they were ahead of Lozano in filing impeachment cases against Mrs. Arroyo. The House, however, dismissed all impeachment complaints – eight of them – against the President.
It was in the course of this year’s failed impeachment process that Cayetano got himself into trouble with the Arroyos after the lawmaker claimed the First Family had "hundreds of millions of dollars, not pesos," in HypoVereins Bank in Munich, Germany. The Arroyos denied this. – Mayen Jaymalin, Jess Diaz