Cusi-led PDP-Laban: Extend period to file candidacy, postpone printing of ballots

MANILA, Philippines — A faction of the administration party has filed a petition asking the Commission on Elections to re-open the filing of certificates of candidacy, saying the poll body ended the filing period too soon.

In its petition, the Cusi faction of the PDP-Laban also said that the poll body is still working on pending petitions and cannot yet print official ballots even if the period for filing COCs and substitutions has already passed.

The party also said it did not have enough time "to remedy the political vacuum" created by Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa's withdrawal of his candidacy for president, itself a last-minute decision by PDP-Laban.

"We are asking the Comelec to review its self-imposed deadlines in the interest of the electorate. This petition will benefit everyone and should be intently considered by the commission," party secretary general Melvin Matibag said in a statement.

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Going by the poll body's schedule, the printing of ballots should start on January 12, 2022. 

The party acknowledged that the Automated Election System Law gives the Comelec the authority to set its own deadlines but said that setting the deadline for filing COCs "should have been carried out by striking a balance between the logisitical requirements of an automated election...and the need to afford all political parties and candidates sufficient opportunity" to present their candidates.

It said that the deadline should have been based on previous election laws even if these had been amended or superseded by the Automated Election System Law. The period that the Comelec set for filing COCs — from October 1 to 8 — "is unreasonable, unnecessary, and, worse, legally impossible," it also said.

It said proceedings related to the candidacies of aspirants and party-list groups are keeping the Comelec from proceeding with printing the ballots anyway.

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Among those petitions are ones questioning the candidacy of presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and the unresolved issue of which faction of the PDP-Laban the Comelec will recognize.

It said that at least six party-list groups have also run to the Supreme Court to question their exclusion from the race for sectoral representation at the House of Representatives.

The Cusi-led PDP-Laban urged the commission to "reconsider its October 1-8, 2021 deadline and reopen ot otherwise extend this same period" until the Comelec can proceed to printing the ballots. This would allow the party as well as other aspirants to file new certificates of candidacy.

It said the Comelec should also postpone the printing of ballots until the petitions before it and the Supreme Court are resolved. The Comelec should also hold oral arguments on the petition, the PDP-Laban faction said.