By Atty. Howard Calleja
As a grand finale to the Filing of the Certificate of Candidacy for the 2022 Polls, the clowns in our political circus have left no stone unturned. In an attempt to legally maneuver a possible substitution scenario, Sen. Bato Dela Rosa has filed his CoC for President. As such, this ploy to make a travesty of our electoral process has marred the start of the 2022 National and Local Elections with deception and lies,
Under COMELEC’s new resolution, “switching” or “substitution” is no longer prohibited thus the following scenarios are possible:
Scenario 1: From October 9 to November 15, Mayor Sara Duterte withdraws CoC for Mayor. From October 9 to November 15, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa withdraws CoC for President. Mayor Sara Duterte files CoC for President from October 9 to November 15 (note: The Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance must come from Senator dela Rosa’s Party). Senator dela Rosa does not substitute for anyone.
Scenario 2: From October 9 to November 15, Sen. Dela Rosa withdraws CoC for President. From October 9 to November 15, Sen. Go withdraws CoC for Vice President. Sen. Dela Rosa files CoC for position Vice President from October 9 to November 15. Sen. Go files CoC for President from October 9 to November 15 (note: The Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance must come from the same PDP-Laban, Cusi Faction).
Scenario 3: From October 9 to November 15 Sen. Bato Dela Rosa withdraws CoC as President then Sen. Go applies for President while Pres. Rodrigo Duterte files for VP; and
Scenario 4: From October 9 to November 15 Mayor Sara withdraws as mayor while Sen.Bato Dela Rosa withdraws as president. Mayor Sara joins PDP-Laban (Cusi faction) to replace Sen. Bato. Pres. Duterte then joins “Hugpong ng Pagbabago” and files CoC as mayor of Davao replacing Mayor Sara.
Another possibility with no “switching” involved would be a BBM-GO tandem with a simple Sen. Bato withdrawal with BBM being adopted by the PDP-Laban (Cusi faction).
Saddening as it may be, in all these scenarios and possibilities we see lies, deceit and subterfuge which assumes that voters are naïve and easily fooled by such political maneuvers. Fool me once, shame on thee; fool me twice, shame on me. After being tricked once, one should learn from one’s mistakes and avoid being tricked in the same way again. These dubious schemes which seek to circumvent our legal and electoral process just to retain their lust for power and greed are only making a mockery of us all and should be stopped here and now. The treachery is over, it’s time to show the wolf in the sheep’s clothing.
