MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has unanimously decided not to allow candidate substitution based on withdrawal after the weeklong filing of certificate of candidacy (COC), Comelec officials said yesterday.
“Candidates, lay your cards on the table. Be up front about your candidacy and there will be no more changes,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said. “If you’re really decided, then lay it out at once. File your candidacy.”
At the Bagong Pilipinas public briefing yesterday, Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco said the commission has set from Oct. 1 to 8 the filing of COC for those running in the 2025 midterm elections.
At the same time, groups participating in the party-list elections may also file a Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance.
Laudiangco said the Comelec would allow filing of withdrawal and substitution only from Oct. 1 to 8. “If a candidate with a political party will withdraw from Oct. 9 onwards, it will no longer be allowed to substitute other candidate,” he noted in Filipino.
Garcia said the commission will only allow substitution of candidate on grounds of death or disqualification.
He said the substitute candidate must have the same surname as the one replaced and must belong to the same political party.
The official list of those running will be released early, according to the Comelec, to give voters enough time to screen them and file disqualification complaints if necessary.
Soon after the end of COC filing, Laudiangco said the Comelec will post the certified list of candidates in all the poll body’s offices.
“For what purpose? To show the public that these people have filed COC and so the evaluation and research into their persons can start if they deserve our vote or not,” he stressed.
Since it’s an automated election, Laudiangco said the list of candidates will also be posted on Comelec’s website for the public to see and thoroughly look into the identities of the aspirants.
“In order to see who are the candidates and those who want to file cancellation of COC, disqualification, nuisance can file at the correct Comelec office ,” he added.
Laudiangco said the commission will also allow electronic filing of petitions for disqualification or cancellation of COC so that complaints can be resolved quicker.
He said the commission wants all pending disqualification cases to have been resolved and nuisance candidates removed before the printing of ballots.
Despite the absence of an enabling law, the Comelec is pushing through with the planned internet voting in the May 2025 elections for Filipino voters abroad.
Garcia reported yesterday that the commissioners decided against the cancellation of the planned internet voting.
“We weighed the implications, all the possibilities, and we saw the need to proceed with the internet voting although it’s not in the law because no one is questioning it anyway before the Supreme Court,” Garcia told reporters.
“We felt the consequences would be heavier if we canceled internet voting, which is presently being expected by our countrymen abroad,” the chairman added.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III previously expressed his reservations over the use of internet voting in the 2025 midterm elections.
MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will start apprehending today jeepneys that failed to meet the consolidation requirement.
LTFRB Chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said that the 15-day grace period since the April 30 deadline is over, effectively making over 10,000 jeepney units nationwide colorum vehicles.
The figure includes 1,900 unconsolidated units in Metro Manila alone, which will be considered as illegally operating as their franchises have lapsed.
“We can now flag down and we can apprehend drivers or vehicles because the grace period we had given them had already lapsed, so that those that were unconsolidated can no longer travel,” Guadiz said.
He added that the LTFRB had already issued show cause orders for the unconsolidated operators and drivers, and that the agency could begin apprehensions.
Drivers could face a one-year suspension of their license, as well as a hefty fine of P50,000 in penalties and 30-day impounding of their vehicles if caught in colorum operations.
The LTFRB said that it would require consolidated units to have their documents posted on their windshields for proper identification of vehicles.
Three to four critical areas in Metro Manila do not have consolidated units on their routes, according to Guadiz. This will be addressed by getting units from other routes to serve the affected areas.
“What we did was to issue a special order on the routes to fill those that were not able to have consolidated jeepneys. We had already fixed it,” he said.
Transport groups Manibela and Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON) are still asking the Supreme Court to suspend the government’s public utility vehicle modernization program (PUVMP).
The groups are asking the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to allow unconsolidated operators to continue plying their routes.
Guadiz said they would respect the decision of the court if it does issue a TRO.
“We will allow the return of the 1,900 unconsolidated jeepney units to the roads,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has deputized traffic enforcers from some cities in Metro Manila to enforce traffic laws.
The MMDA had deputized traffic enforcers from the cities of Malabon, Mandaluyong, Valenzuela, San Juan, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City and the municipality of Pateros, according to information from the agency.
The MMDA had also issued identification cards to the undisclosed number of enforcers.
The delegation of traffic law enforcement is pursuant to an SC ruling in July last year that ordered local government units in Metro Manila to stop issuing traffic violation tickets and instead let the MMDA do the job through its single ticketing system.
Deputizing local traffic enforcers is the MMDA’s way of obeying the decision since its current manpower of 2,500 traffic enforcers is not enough to enforce traffic laws in the metropolis, according to MMDA acting Chairman Romando Artes.
The agency has yet to confirm or deny if the delegation of Metro Manila traffic enforcers is related to the apparent crackdown on jeepneys that failed to undergo franchise consolidation under the government’s PUVMP.
However, during its road clearing operations yesterday in areas in the cities of Pasay and Parañaque, particularly along EDSA, Macapagal Boulevard, NIA Road, Sucat Road and Tramo, MMDA enforcers issued tickets to some drivers of jeepneys, according to photos shared by the MMDA with media.
The drivers, however, were apprehended because of illegal parking along the Roxas Boulevard service road and not because they have been flagged as colorum.
The MMDA’s traffic enforcers apprehended 35 motorists, while 12 vehicles were towed during operations in Pasay and Parañaque, according to the agency.
Last month, the MMDA, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Transportation entered into a partnership aimed to intensify the campaign against unauthorized or colorum PUVs.
Under a task force against colorum PUV operators, violators shall be penalized with fines of up to P1 million as well as criminal charges.
The MMDA explained that the deputization of traffic enforcers has nothing to do with the government’s impending crackdown on colorum PUVs.
It stressed it is an “offshoot” of the SC decision. – Ghio Ong