House OKs bill banning substitution for candidate withdrawal

The House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously approved a measure removing withdrawal as a ground for substituting candidates in elections on third and final reading.

This comes as 195 lawmakers voted "yes" to the bill with no negative and abstention votes.

“This is to prevent the mockery of the electoral system by abolishing withdrawal of certificate of candidacy as a ground for substitution of candidates by political parties that field candidates merely as placeholders just to comply with the electoral deadline of filing for candidacy,” the committee report on the measure said.

Aside from banning withdrawal as a ground for substitution, the bill also adds permanent incapacity as a ground for substitution of candidates.

The bill defines permanent incapacity as mental or physical   impairment, or both, based on a verified medical report of a licensed physician, rendering the candidate unable to perform the elected position's duties, and which appears reasonably certain to continue without substantial improvement until the term of office which the candidate seeks to be elected for."

”This will strengthen the electoral system by including incapacity as additional ground for substitution of candidates in order to ensure that only those who are put in front of the public during the campaign will be the ones to serve the people should they be elected,” the committee report added.

Banned

In May, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that the en banc has banned the substitution of candidates after the last day of filing certificates of candidacy if the substitution will be made due to the withdrawal of the candidate.

The filing of Certificate of candidacy (COC) for the May 2025 midterm polls is scheduled from October 1 to 8, 2024.

“Substitution is supposed to be allowed until November 15. Now, there is no November 15 deadline to speak of. Ito po ay para hindi nalilinlang ang sambayanan," Garcia said.

He added allowing substitutes for those who withdrew candidacies hamper the Comelec’s preparation for the conduct of the polls.

Past substitutions

Substitutions during the election period became a "strategy" in the past. 

The most notable was in 2015 when then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte substituted for PDP-Laban's first presidential candidate for Eleksyon 2016, Martin Diño.

Diño withdrew his presidential candidacy after the Comelec questioned his capacity to launch a national campaign.

Before Diño withdrew his presidential candidacy, the PDP-Laban passed a resolutionurging Duterte to run for president as the party's substitute.

Duterte filed a COC for Davao City mayor in October that year. 

His daughter Sara Duterte substituted him and ran for mayor in their home city.

Duterte eventually won the 2016 presidential race via landslide, beating the rest of the field with over 16 million votes.

In 2021, then Davao city Mayor Sara Duterte also filed a COC for vice president as a substitute to her then Lakas-CMD party-mate Lyle Uy. 

She has since left the party.

Uy initially filed for COC for vice president during the filing of certificate of candidacy but withdrew his candidacy on November 13, 2021, the same day then mayor Sara Duterte filed her COC for vice president as Uy’s substitute.

Uy did not give any statement after withdrawing his COC for vice president.

Sara Duterte also overwhelmed her rivals in the 2022 vice presidential race with over 32 million votes. 

—VAL, GMA Integrated News