KBL's Acosta may face criminal charges - Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - Disqualified presidential candidate Vetellano Acosta could face criminal charges of perjury, false declaration under oath, and falsification of public documents, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said Acosta may be held liable for false declaration under oath for presenting himself as a presidential candidate.

Acosta can also be charged with falsification of public documents when he falsely declared in his certificate of candidacy (COC) that he is a registered voter in Barangay Tejeron in Sta. Ana, Manila, he added.

Ferdinand Rafanan, Comelec Law Department director, said Acosta could have also committed perjury for falsely claiming that he is a registered voter.

“He can be sued for perjury since the COC is declared under oath,” he said.

Rafanan said Acosta could also have committed an election offense under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code, which provides ground to cancel the COC in case of any false representation, he added.

LP asks Comelec  to remove Acosta’s name from ballots

The Liberal Party (LP) has asked the Comelec to remove the name of Acosta from the ballots so its standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would be first in the list of presidential candidates.

However, Larrazabal said doing so would be very costly for the poll body.

The Comelec would just consider the votes for Acosta as “stray” and would not be counted, he added. 

Florencio Abad, LP campaign manager, said since the National Printing Office had only printed nine million of the 50.7 million ballots, the printing could still be stopped and Acosta’s name could be stricken off the new batch of ballots to be printed.

“The LP will formally petition the Comelec to remove Acosta’s name in the ballots still to be printed and to re-print the nine million ballots,” he said.

Abad said Acosta should have been disqualified before the ballots were printed.

“Vetellano Acosta was obviously a nuisance candidate from the start,” he said.

“His vice-presidential running mate denies him, and the son of the KBL’s founder, Bongbong Marcos, doesn’t even know what he looks like.

“He has not shown himself capable of running even in a local campaign, let alone a national one.

“Still, Comelec took this long to exclude him from the official list of presidential candidates - after the ballots have been printed with (Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel) Manny Villar (Jr.) enjoying the privilege of having a column all to himself.”

Acosta informed of nomination withdrawal

Acosta was informed that the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) would withdraw his nomination on the day that the Comelec cancels his COC.

However, chairman Vicente Millora said before the letter could be sent to Acosta, the Comelec approved a resolution disqualifying Acosta.

“We are now relieved of Acosta,” Millora said.

In a letter dated March 4, a copy of which was furnished to The STAR, Millora informed Acosta that the KBL is withdrawing its support and nomination because of his failure to launch a nationwide campaign. – With Aurea Calica, Perseus Echeminada