Bets on narco list can run – Comelec
Credit to Author: WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT| Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2019 16:19:36 +0000
Candidates whose names were included on the list of personalities allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade will not be disqualified, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Monday.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said being included in the so-called “narco list” has no effect on one’s candidacy.
“Our position has never wavered. Give us the list if you have it, release it… but it will not really affect the qualification of the candidate because the narco list is not a final conviction,” Jimenez told reporters.
“If there’s a candidate on the narcolist then that list reflects at best an allegation that they are involved in narcotics trade, it is not a final conviction. Since it is not a final conviction, it cannot be disqualifying,” he added.
“If someone wants to release a narcolist that’s their call entirely. The Comelec is not involved in it,” he added.
Jimenez said the poll body took a similar stand when the narco list issue cropped up during the barangay (village) elections.
“If you campaign against the electoral victory of a candidate that is negative campaigning, but if you smear, maliciously air libelous comments against them, you cannot be protected by the fact that negative campaigning is allowed. That’s the critical point there,” Jimenez said.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had said it wanted candidates in drug lists to be disqualified from the midterm elections this May.
Over the weekend, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the narcolist would be released before the local election campaign period to help voters choose their candidates.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde said the PNP would support the move should Duterte officially order its release.
“If these will all be validated, I think [it is the right of the voters to know who is in the ‘narco list’). That is why validation, deliberation, and adjudication of this information is important because the public deserves to know; they deserve the truth,” Albayalde said.
Not shame campaign
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the impending release of the narco list was not a government-backed “shame campaign.”
He said those included in the narco list could take their case to the court to deny the allegations.
“The idea of presenting a list by the DILG and PDEA is to tell the electorate on the kind of candidates that they will choose from and I think it will help them,” Panelo said.
The release of the list, he added, was in line with the government’s duty to protect the people and make them know who among the candidates were supposedly involved in the drug trade.
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd said the government should file charges against those believed to have links with the illegal drug trade.
“Comelec cannot prevent those in the narcolist from running in the May 2019 elections because ‘being on a list, even a narco list’ is not a recognized legal ground for disqualifying candidates since they are all presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Pimentel said.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian likewise believed suing narco politicians was the “best” way to prevent them from holding public office.
“Shaming them can only do so much. They have the money and local relationships that will ensure their victory,” Gatchalian said.
“The best strategy is to remove them legally through the proper courts,” he added.
With a reports from ROY D.r. NARRA, RALPH U. VILLANUEVA, AND BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO
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