Comelec drops Mandaue mayoralty bet from roster

CEBU, Philippines - The Second Division of the Commission on Elections has disqualified a mayoralty aspirant in Mandaue City from running.

In a decision dated January 5, 2010, the second division through its presiding commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, declared Eugenio Ruiz in default for his failure to appear in the scheduled hearing set during the day.

Ruiz, a councilor of barangay Centro, was seeking the mayoralty as an independent candidate.

The commission found Eugenio Ruiz necessary to be declared disqualified to run as mayor of Mandaue City.

The copy of the order has just been received by the office of Sixth District Representative Nerrissa Soon-Ruiz who is in her last term and is seeking the mayoralty post in Mandaue City.

Soon-Ruiz claims that the supposed candidacy of Eugenio Ruiz was a ploy by her rival to mislead voters or to disqualify ballots in the 2010 elections.

However, Soon-Ruiz has been confident that this old election tactic will not affect her votes since the poll automation has its ballots printed already with names of the candidates.

Soon-Ruiz calls on her supporters and the electorate to mark the space beside her name in the ballot since the name of Eugenio Ruiz has already been included in the ballots.— Flor Z. Perolina (THE FREEMAN)