EDITORIAL — Weeding out undesirable bets

This week, the Commission on Elections will be posting on its website the certificates of candidacy of all the 44,000 bets seeking national and local posts in the 2025 races. The move follows the release last Friday of the list of all the nominees of the 156 groups allowed by the Comelec to participate in the party-list elections. The Comelec said the release of the COCs, the party-list groups and their nominees is in line with transparency efforts.

By Dec. 13, the Comelec aims to come out with the final list of candidates. Those on the list will be on the ballot. Public scrutiny will make it easier for the Comelec to weed out nuisance candidates as well as prevent a repeat of the case of Alice Guo, who is alleged to have faked her Philippine citizenship to run for mayor of Bamban, Tarlac. The Comelec, exercising its ministerial duty, accepted her candidacy in 2022, which no one challenged. Comelec officials have stressed that verifying declarations of citizenship in the COC is outside its mandate.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia is urging the public to scrutinize the COCs and list of party-list nominees, and to exercise the power and right to challenge the eligibility of any candidate or nominee by filing a complaint. Garcia has stressed that poverty or limited financial means does not make a person a nuisance candidate.

A common reason for being declared a nuisance is when a candidate with the same surname, or strongly similar name as a rival, runs merely to split the votes for that rival. This was deemed to be the case in the candidacy of “Ruel Degamo” for governor of Negros Oriental in 2022. His candidacy split the votes for Roel Degamo, allowing opponent Pryde Henry Teves to win. On Sept. 1, 2022, the Comelec declared Ruel Degamo a nuisance bet whose real name is Grego Degamo, and declared Roel Degamo as the winner, unseating Teves.

The Supreme Court upheld the Comelec in February 2023. Less than a month later, Roel Degamo was assassinated at his home in Pamplona together with nine others in an attack that has been attributed to Teves and his brother, ousted Negros Oriental 3rd district congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr.

The deadly violence in Negros Oriental is not uncommon in this country. Before a similar attack occurs, it is better to prevent the fielding of nuisance bets like Grego Degamo. But vetting of candidates as well as party-list nominees will need public participation and active efforts to weed out the undesirables.