UNA loses Congress bet in Nueva Vizcaya

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – The elections are still about six months away but the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) here seemed to have lost the race for this province’s lone congressional district seat.

This, after the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Gov. Luisa Cuaresma has been “deemed not filed” by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) which said that she failed to have her signature in the logbook of the Comelec provincial office when she filed her COC.

Cuaresma said she would exhaust all legal remedies to contest the denial of her candidacy even as her camp has yet to receive an official copy of the decision. 

“Amid the crisis now besetting my candidacy, I reiterate my strong desire to serve as your representative in Congress. We assure you that this humble representation will not stop at anything in serving you to the best of her ability,” she said in a statement.

Now on her third and final gubernatorial term, Cuaresma is also bidding to become the province’s first congresswoman. She is up against long-time Rep. Carlos Padilla of the Nacionalista Party.   

The official campaign has yet to start about three months from now, Cuaresma said, “but our battle has just begun. We will fight to the end fair and square. You have asked us to run, and I am now running, you have asked us to win and we will win.”

According to a recent Comelec memorandum resolution, Cuaresma’s name not being in the local Comelec’s logbook when she came to submit her COC made her candidacy “deemed not filed.”

The poll body did not give credence to the report of lawyer Abraham Asuncion, Comelec provincial officer, that the governor had indeed appeared in person. It put more weight on her presence not being noted in the Comelec logbook.  

Cuaresma rushed to the Comelec office here last Oct. 3 after aides notified her that she needed to be there since the authorization letter she gave to them for filing her COC was not notarized, a violation of Section 3 of the poll body’s Memorandum 9518. 

“Her personal presence at the Comelec office was not duly noted in the logbook, however. But (the provincial election supervisor) had said he was willing to testify that the governor was personally present there when she finalized her filing of candidacy,” said partymate Vice Gov. Jose Gambito, her anointed successor to the governorship.

Other candidates also attested that they were not made to sign a logbook which was the reason the Comelec nullified Cuaresma’s candidacy.

“I was the last one to file my certificate of candidacy but nobody told me to sign a logbook, not even during my earlier candidacies. What they showed was a list being signed by Comelec personnel of those who already filed their candidacy,” said re-electionist board member Theo Daniel 

Another re-electionist board member, Filma Dulay, also attested that she was not made to sign any logbook. “What I remember is that the Comelec personnel were the ones writing down our names in a notebook,” she said.

According to lawyers here, Cuaresma’s candidacy being “deemed not filed” meant that UNA could not file a substitute candidate for her, as there no candidacy filed. If Cuaresma was disqualified, UNA could name a substitute. 

The Comelec order was signed by Chairman Sixto Brilliantes and five of the six commissioners. Commissioner Grace Padaca, who hails from this region, failed to have her signature affixed in the order, as she was reportedly on “official business.”