Mike wants another Rama out of City Hall race

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama is now mulling moving to disqualify the candidacy of a certain Dorotheo Rama who is also running for mayor.

The vice mayor was given five days since yesterday to file before the Commission on Elections-Manila a petition to cancel certificate of candidacy if he wants to remove the name of Dorotheo from the list of candidates for the elections on May 10.

He admitted that the candidacy of Dorotheo, whose name may appear ahead of his name in the official ballot, may confuse the voters --particularly those who are not familiar in the new voting process.

Dorotheo was nominated by the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino as its candidate for mayor in Cebu City, but rumors have it he is just being used by the opposition party to confuse the voters during the elections.

It was former city mayor Alvin Garcia, the leader of the opposition Kugi Uswag Sugbo and its mayoralty candidate for next year’s elections, who allegedly signed the nomination of Dorotheo, which is attached to the latter’s CoC.  

Election law provides that a petition to declare a candidate a nuisance may be granted by the Comelec officials if the petitioner can prove that the certificate of candidacy has been filed only to put the election process in mockery or disrepute, or the CoC causes confusion among voters by the similarity of the names of the candidates.

Another ground that could be a basis to disqualify a candidate is by other acts or circumstances which clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no bona         fide intention to run for the office for which the CoC’s has been filed.

But the vice mayor said he may decide not to have Dorotheo’s name deleted from the list of candidates and will just educate the voters during their pulong-pulong in the barangays.

North district Rep. Raul del Mar and his daughter, congressional aspirant Rachel Cutie Del Mar, had also asked the Comelec to disqualify a certain Jacinto del Mar who also filed his CoC as congressman of the city’s north district.

In an earlier interview with The FREEMAN, Basak-San Nicolas barangay captain George Rama disclosed that Kusugs’ allies are looking for a candidate with a Rama surname to replace Ricci Ranili, the mayoralty bet of LDP in the city to confuse the voters as vice mayor Rama also seeking for the said post.

Dorotheo’s brother Serafin “Dongkho” Cobacha Rama is also running for vice mayor.

Serafin replaced Baby Ian Baguio, who withdrew his candidacy together with Ranili.

Garcia also denied he was the one who signed the certificate of nomination of the Rama brothers although he admitted that he was asked to affix his signature.

“Ila kong papirmahon dili man ko mopirma, dili nako na style oy, pildihon nako si Mike sa patas nga paagi, modaug man gyud ko,” Garcia said.

But the certificate of nomination of Serafin for vice mayor was signed by Garcia while that of Dorotheo’s was a scanned signature of Edgardo Angara, the party chairman.

Attorney Salvador Solima, however, made it clear that it’s a universal right for a person to vote and be voted upon as long as he or she is qualified.

Solima, who is also running for mayor in the city, claimed that a candidate cannot be declared a nuisance if he or she belongs to a national party.

“Dili na nuisance oy kay nagpasabot man nang nuisance nga wa silay kahigayunan sa pagpangampanya, dili sila ka-wage og kampanya, unya na-belong gud na sila og national party, so, dili nila mahimong gamiton nang maong ground,” Solima said.

The same arguments used by Solima when his candidate for congressman in the north district, Jacinto del Mar, was being questioned by the Del Mar camp of BOPK.

Jacinto is running under the Philippine Green Republican Party where he is going to challenge Cutie for the congressional seat.

Solima said that he is going to file their comment regarding the petition filed by the Del Mar camp against his candidate within this week.

But city election officer Marchel Sarno clarified that Solima is wrong and belonging to a national party does not guarantee that a candidate can’t be declared a nuisance.

Sarno said that the Comelec will also consider the intention of the candidate if he or she will just make a mockery of the election.

“Siguro usa na nga consideration nga na-belong ka sa national party pero tan-awon sab siguro sa Comelec oy kung ang intention sa pagdagan dili ba lang ang paglawgaw sa eleksyon to confuse the voters,” Sarno stressed.

Comelec-7 director Ray Rene Buac disclosed that anyone can file a petition for disqualification against the candidates who substituted their original bets.

Buac emphasized that the petition will be filed directly to Comelec-Manila and this should be accomplished within five days after the substitution.

He said that Comelec-Manila may decide all the petitions for disqualification that have been filed on or before the printing of ballots next month.

“Kay ang deadline man gud for the printing of ballots is on the second week of January, so, I guess Comelec will decide on this before that time,” Boac said. – Rene U. Borromeo and Elly Bolonos/BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)