In the municipality of Budol, Mayor Bitong Bigote just filed his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC), hoping to be re-elected.  He is famous for his long bushy mustache.  According to him, it is a symbol of his masculinity, power, and influence.  This is the reason why he is very successful in improving the town with his numerous projects during his term.  Actually, he says that he is useless without it.  It is akin to Samson’s hair, which is the source of his power, yet when it was secretly trimmed by Delilah, the former lost his strength.

On the last day for filing of CoCs with the local Comelec, a known thug on the streets, Bitong Sayote, also filed his CoC for Mayor. Mayor Bitong Bigote immediately filed with the Comelec a petition to disqualify Bitong Sayote for being a nuisance candidate.  The mayor claims that Bitong Sayote’s real name is in fact Pepong Malutong, and he lives in the outskirts of town, near the sayote plantation –  a marsh land belonging to another person, beside the cesspool of the Municipality of Budol, where all the toxic wastes of the place, including that of a plastic manufacturing company, are being dumped.  Furthermore, Bitong Bigote says that Bitong Sayote is merely causing trouble by putting the election process into a mockery or disrepute in order to prevent the determination of the true will of the electorate by using the similarity of their names as a tool to confuse the voters and must therefore be disqualified.  Besides, says Mayor Bitong Bigote, Bitong Sayote is an unemployed man, always seen along the filthy, dark side of town, slinking in a corner of low resort, and is thus incapable of waging a campaign for any elective office.

Mayor Bitong Bigote, in reality, is really very afraid because, at the last minute, on the last day for the filing of CoCs, the load shark (the one who lends, cell phone loads), Rakeshi Ganeshi,Jr.,  filed his CoC, also for Mayor.  Rakeshi Ganeshi, Jr., who was born out of wedlock, is the son of Maria Paquita Enriquita, the manicurist in a salon situated near the untidy and wet market place.  Rekeshi’s father is Rakeshi Ganeshi, Sr., the Indian national who lends out money to street people and who was recently assassinated for unknown reasons– whose violent murder, remains unsolved to this day.  Although Rakeshi Ganeshi, Jr.’s citizenship is questionable because he is running for an elective office, this story is reserved for another topic.

While anxiously waiting for the decision of the disqualification case, and after taking a handful of melatonin, Mayor Bitong Bigote could not sleep, and even if he could, he is disturbed by bouts of sudden awful nightmares where he sees Rakeshi Ganeshi, Jr., successfully invading his position.  In his perturbed thoughts, if Bitong Sayote is not disqualified, the votes intended for him may be counted in Bitong Sayote’s favor and Rakeshi Ganeshi, Jr. might just emerge as the new mayor of the town.

True enough, his most dreaded premonition, comes to life.  The results of the elections were as follows:

As Rakeshi Ganeshi, Jr. prepares to have his oath taking and victory celebrations, Mayor Bitong Bigote has gone out of his mind.  He storms the local Comelec office to complain, bringing with him dozens of supporters.

Are the votes obtained by Bitong Sayote, the true votes for Mayor Bitong Bigote?  What is the legal remedy of Mayor Bitong Bigote, who is desperate because he recently found out (which is so sad on his part), that his mustache has lost its charm, effect and power?

Answer:  The votes obtained by Bitong Sayote, if he is declared a nuisance candidate, by final judgment, must credited to the votes of Mayor Bitong Bigote.   This is because the finality of the DQ (disqualification) case will result in the cancellation of his certificate of candidacy (cOc), as though, he is not a candidate at all. “ Thus, a petition to declare a person a nuisance candidate or a petition for disqualification of a nuisance candidate is already sufficient to cancel the COC of the said candidate and to credit the garnered votes to the legitimate candidate because it is as if the nuisance candidate was never a candidate to be voted for.” (Santos vs. Comelec, et. al., September 4, 2018).  Mayor Bitong Bigote was correct in filing the proper case and the votes of the nuisance candidate will be added to Mayor Bitong Bigote’s votes as soon as the judgment in DQ case (which is favorable to him) becomes final, before or after elections: “Final judgments declaring a nuisance candidate should effectively cancel the certificate of candidacy filed by such candidate as of election day.” (Santos vs. Comelec, September 4, 2018)

***The characters herein mentioned are purely fictional.  Opinion/s or comment/s in this article are made by me in my personal capacity as a lawyer and not as an employee of the Comelec.

~ Atty. Elenita Julia Tabangin-Capuyan