Expunged ‘nuisance’ bets also have rights

By Alex P. Vidal  

“Men should be disqualified for public office. Women should run the planet. They’re better than us.” —Ted Turner

WE ridiculed our own law when we laughed at the list of “nuisance” candidates who filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) last year for the May 12, 2025 Philippine elections (the Commission on Elections recently eliminated them with finality upon submission of the final cut for printing of ballots).

No matter how we treated their COCs with derision, mocked them, and called them names, those “nuisance” candidates, which included a combative senatorial aspirant from Aklan disbarred by the Supreme Court, will continue to persevere knowing fully well that “the law is also on our side.”

They have the right to assert, “Hey, the election process isn’t only limited for the scholarly, the mighty, and the omnipotent. This is for us, too, the undervalued, the spurned, and the tossed aside aspirants for a public office.”

In a democratic country like the Philippines, everyone is free to dream and fail—and even fail after dreaming.

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Whether those “nuisance” bets were real-life insane or erudite punks should have been beside the point after the Comelec decided to accept their COCs last year.

In the first place, those “nuisance” candidates had been expunged only from the electoral race during the Comelec deliberation process ostensibly for their inability to mount a serious campaign, or for lack of a registered political party, among other primordial reasons, not because they weren’t qualified to run.

Under the law or An Act Governing the Elections of Local Government Officials, those “nuisance” candidates were very much allowed to run as long as they met the qualifications prescribed by law for public elective positions in the Philippines.

For local positions the qualifications are “mere” the following:

1. Citizen of the Philippines;
2. On the day of election at least 23 years old for Governor, Vice-Governor, member of Sangguniang Panlalawigan, mayor, vice-mayor, Sangguniang Panglungsod in highly urbanized cities; while at least 21 years old for the said officials in component cities and municipalities; at least 18 years old for members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod, Sangguniang Bayan and Sangguniang Barangay and punong barangay; at least 15 years old and not more than 21 years of age for Sangguniang Kabataan;
3. Able to read and write Filipino or any other local language or dialect;
4. Registered voter in the constituency in the locality;
5. Resident thereof for a period of not less than one year immediately preceding the day of the election.

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DON’T LET OUR DOGS EAT THIS! Grapes and raisins have been shown to cause kidney failure in dogs. The toxic ingredient is unclear, but it is currently being studied in the veterinary community (a fungus is suspected). The number of grapes or raisins that may cause kidney failure is not exactly known, so any amount could potentially be dangerous.

MENINGITIS VACCINE FOR KIDS BENEFITS THE ELDERLY, TOO. Since the meningitis vaccine was introduced in 2000 for children ages two months to two years, not only have meningitis cases declined by 64 percent among children, they also have dropped by 54% among people 65 and older. With fewer children spreading germs, fewer adults are getting the disease.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)