MANILA, Philippines – These voters want to be given choices other than the names of candidates when they cast their ballots in May.
Led by lawyer Eduardo Bringas, they asked the Supreme Court yesterday to order the Commission on Elections to print on the ballot “None of The Above” (NOTA) and “The Above Only” (TAO) to allow them to vote without choosing any candidate.
Their constitutional right to vote includes the right not to choose any candidate listed in the ballot, they said.
Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution provides for situations when no one wins in the presidential or vice presidential polls and for succession of power, Bringas said.
NOTA should be included in the ballot for singular positions and TAO put at the bottom of the list of candidates for multiple winners, petitioners said.
“The bottom line is: there is only one situation where no president and/or vice president have been chosen, although one of the candidates garners the highest number of votes and that is when the ballot provides a box for NOTA as a choice for the position of president and vice president and it garners the highest number of votes,” read the petition.