黑料社

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� A bill that seeks to classify actions of nuisance candidates as election offenses has been approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading.

During the session on Monday, House Bill (HB) No. 11317 which seeks to amend Batas Pambansa Blg. 881 or the Omnibus Election Code was approved with 193 lawmakers voting in the affirmative, four in the negative, and zero abstentions.

If enacted, a provision will be inserted in Section 69 to include running for office just to obtain money or profit as grounds for cancellation of one鈥檚 certificate of candidacy (COC).

In addition, if HB No. 11317 is signed into law, filing a COC that violates the grounds under the amended Section 69 will be considered as prohibited acts or election offenses.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, however, said that he voted against the bill鈥檚 passage because he believes that the 鈥渞isk carried by this bill outweighs the benefits.鈥�

According to Manuel, if the bill becomes a law, it may wrongly penalize aspiring public servants who come from 鈥渓ess privileged backgrounds鈥� or those from independent parties,

鈥淎ng mga kandidato galing sa mahihirap na pamilya, those who come from less privileged backgrounds at pati yung mga galing sa relatively less established parties o kahit mga tumatakbong independent鈥攕ila, Mr. Speaker, ay disadvantage na sa nakapaka-uneven na playing field ng politika at halalan sa ating bansa,鈥� Manuel said.

(The candidates who come from poor families, those who come from less privileged backgrounds and those from relatively less established parties or those running independently would be at a disadvantage because of an uneven playing field in our politics and elections.)

Manuel further said that other candidates who have a record of human rights violations or abuses should be the one who are disqualified or declared nuisance candidates.

鈥淜aya naman, Mr. Speaker, kung sasagutin natin kung sino ba ang dapat ma-disqualify sa halalan ay sa totoo lang, mas marami 鈥榶ong karapat-dapat na ma-disqualify bagamat hindi sila napapasama sa current na pamantayan ng Comelec (Commission on Elections) sa pagiging nuisance candidate,鈥� he said.

(That鈥檚 why Mr. Speaker, if we would say who deserves to be disqualified, honestly there are individuals more deserving of being declared nuisance candidates although they do not fit Comelec鈥檚 current criteria.)

Proposals to 鈥� and to possibly criminalize such acts 鈥� have earned support from the Comelec.听

Last January 21, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said that there are instances wherein candidates are paid by a politician because he or she possesses a name that bears a resemblance to an opponent鈥檚 identity.

According to Garcia, the nuisance candidates must be fined, if not jailed, 鈥渢o learn their lesson.鈥�