42 Senate candidates scratched from list

Forty-two senatorial candidates have been disqualified from running in the May 14 polls, but a namesake of Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano passed the screening of the Commission on Elections.

The poll body also approved the candidacies of 38 others, among them Joselito Pepito Cayetano, actor Richard Gomez, and former senators Gregorio Honasan and Anna Dominique Coseteng.

However, the Comelec disapproved the candidacy of Theodore Aquino, whose bid for a Senate seat could threaten Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Lawyer Josslyn de Mesa of the Comelec’s law department said they endorsed the candidacies of those representing local political parties, as in the case of Joselito Pepito Cayetano, who was nominated by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan.

She said the candidacies of Honasan and Coseteng were approved because they are former senators.

"Their track record in elections is unquestionable," she said. "There have been no protest (petition) filed against them and their standing during elections was good."

She said Gomez, on the other hand, is a popular actor, who would "not be making a mockery" of the electoral process.

"When he came here to file his COC, he was accompanied by his supporters and his family,"" she said.

"It could be gleaned that he (Richard) has a bona fide intention to run for senator."

Representative Cayetano went to the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila yesterday afternoon to ask the poll body to disqualify Joselito Pepito Cayetano.

Accompanying Representative Cayetano were streamer-waving supporters and lawyer Adel Tamano, the spokesman for the opposition.

Cayetano said his namesake was apparently fielded by the administration to derail his senatorial bid.

"We want the Comelec to declare him a nuisance because he misrepresented himself," he said.

"He is not even a ‘Peter’ but a ‘Jojo.’ We also acquired certification from the Professional Regulation Commission that he is not a marine engineer (as his COC stated)."

Representative Cayetano said Comelec should have taken the initiative to declare as a nuisance a "clearly nuisance candidate."

The administration is now employing "dirty" tactics to get rid of the opposition candidates, he added.

Tamano, said the fielding of Joselito Pepito Cayetano shows that the administration is "scared," and that it would exert all means to dominate the May 14 elections.

"This can be a test of how true (Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos) is in his words," he said. "They should strike (Cayetano’s namesake) from the list. Hope he will pass this test. That is if he wants to leave a good legacy."

The Comelec en banc is expected to decide on the law department’s recommendation when it meets next week.