January 28th, 12:25am January 27th, 7:54pm Ninez Cacho-OlivaresFrontline

Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman James Jimenez announced the certified 2019 list of senatorial candidates includes 76 names, although 13 on the list may be dropped once the certificate of finality is issued.

“The real problem for the Comelec… is the fact that the poll body would then be setting a dangerous precedent if it cannot disqualify any candidate.

A total of 200 individuals aspired to run for Senate seats. There were 50 senatorial bets in the 2016 polls who Comelec allowed to run for the elective posts. This year, the number of bets has an additional 26 names which will result in too long a ballot and smaller fonts that can prove to be torturous for the voter.

Quite frankly, it would be easier for the voters to just write the name of the individual senatorial candidate than go through that long list of names who are not likely to win even the 15th or 25th senatorial spot.

Out of the more than 200 individuals who had registered to run for senator in the coming midterm polls, 63 have been allowed to try to run, Comelec announced the other day.

But why even allow so many who have no chance in hell to win a senatorial seat and don’t have the wherewithal or even the name to conduct a nationwide campaign?

Surely the Comelec knows just who should be qualified to run and for the right reasons. The poll body surely knows just who can wage a nationwide campaign for a senatorial seat.

Chances are high the same set of unknown candidates who are hardly qualified to even sit in the Senate keeps on trying to run, every three years, for a Senate seat. Why bother to entertain them and provide the voter a long list of Senate bets in the ballot?

Among the senatorial bets on the list whose names may be struck out are Sen. Koko Pimentel and former Sen. Serge Osmeña.

Pimentel faces a disqualification case at the Comelec, owing to the fact that by running and perhaps winning a Senate seat come May, he would effectively have served 14 years in the Senate or three terms which is not allowed by the 1987 Constitution.

It will be recalled that Pimentel, who lost to Sen. Miguel Zubiri in the 2013 elections, lodged a protest case at the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) that took too long to resolve the protest.

Zubiri decided to give up his protest and, as a result, Pimentel took over his seat, giving Pimentel his remaining time in the Senate.

He ran again in 2016 and won a senatorial seat which makes his victory in 2016 the start of his second term. By running for another term and winning, if allowed by the Comelec, this would be clearly Pimentel’s third term which is unconstitutional.

Still, if the Comelec allows Pimentel to run, even against the Constitution, this would have the unconstitutional third-termer in the Senate and his position can be questioned either before the SET or before the High Court through a quo warranto filed against the senator and, if ousted, the 13th bet takes Pimentel’s place.

Senator Osmeña’s disqualification case takes a different route and he can easily be disqualified by the Comelec. Reports said the senator had, the first time, failed to file his statement of contributions and expenditures (SoCE) and the second time he ran for the 2013 senatorial race. He reportedly did not file any SoCE after the 2016 race where he lost his Senate seat.

This may cost him his disqualification as a senatorial candidate.

But even if the two known senatorial candidates are taken out of the list, there would still be a long line of bets in the ballot, which is really silly, considering the fact that more than half of the other listed bets are not even likely to get 20 votes each from the electorate. What is likely to happen is that many of the bona-fide senatorial candidates are going to get less votes mainly because of cases of overvoting and undervoting, since the wrong ovals may just have been filled as the fonts are just too tiny to read, especially for the elderly, what with so many names presented.

The real problem for the Comelec, however, should Pimentel and Osmeña be allowed to run is the fact that the poll body would then be setting a dangerous precedent if it cannot disqualify any candidate, whether mayor, governor, congressman or senator who failed to submit his SoCE on time or even refused to file any SoCE at all, since he lost in the polls, but tries making a return run. Any decision allowing the returning senator to run for the Senate seat or even any elective seat will apply to all other hopefuls who have not filed their SoCE.

As for Pimentel’s case, if the poll body allows the two-term senator to run again and for a third term, this again would serve as a dangerous precedent, since it is probable that the same scenario will occur again and again. This means that the proviso in the 1987 Charter will be thrown out of the window by the Comelec.

If a disqualified candidate’s name is already printed in the ballots, votes cast for him or her shall be considered stray votes based on Comelec rules.

No wonder this country is so screwed up with so many exceptions.