Twist and turns of 2016 Election – the disqualification and its consequences

QUEZON City, Philippines (December 3) – After the unexpected disqualification of Senator Grace Poe earlier this week, the Commission on Elections or COMELEC said that the name of the senator might still appear on the 2016 official election ballots if the other disqualification cases against Poe will remain unresolved until the printing day of the ballots.

Though the disqualification case is still on-going, a certain poll organization insisted that the name of the senator should be excluded in the official list of the candidates for 2016 presidential election. In response,  Mr. James Jimenez, Comelec Spokesperson said on an interview that the official list of candidates will hopefully be released by December 15, 2015 and that there are still plenty of time to change or exclude names in the content of the official ballots.

However, Jimenez reiterated that the more logical approach on this issue is that, Poe’s name will still be included in the ballots since this is still considered as an on-going case and the decision might change anytime due to the unresolved cases of disqualification against the senator. Jimenez wants to play it safe when he said “it is easier to ignore the votes cast for that person, than to take them out of the ballots and then later on find out that they should have been on the ballot in the first place.”

Truly, the 2016 Presidential Election is and will be a roller coaster of emotions for both the candidates and the voters. The twist and turns of the upcoming election started as early as the first day of filing of Certificate of Candidacy and hopefully it will end on the day of the announcement of winners.

(written by Judai Casamayor, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)