Sunday, March 04, 2007

(UPDATED) COMELEC okays fake "Peter" Cayetano

From the Tribune:

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) weeded out the so-called “nuisance” senatorial candidates, trimming the senatorial bets to 37 from 79, but insisted on retaining one major “nuisance” candidate who would pose a serious problem to an opposition candidate who ranks high in surveys.

Of the 37 senatorial candidates which the Comelec included in the final list for the May 2007 polls, one candidate, Joselito “Peter” Cayetano of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) against whom Genuine Opposition (GO) candidate Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano has lodged a complaint in the Comelec for perjury and for his being fielded solely to destroy Alan Peter’s chances of victory in the polls, has been approved by the Comelec.

Joselito “Peter” Cayetano yesterday on television admitted that his nickname is not “Peter” but “Jojo,” and admitted further that he adopted the nickname “Peter” precisely to win more votes that would not be his, by virtue of the Cayetano name.

Sources, however, said this was a lie, since Cayetano, who lied about being a Marine engineer in his certificate of candidacy, knows that the votes that read only “Peter” or “Cayetano” will be deemed as spoiled ballots.

But he is not a nuisance candidate! Just ask Pidal, Abalos and Oliver Lozano.

In other news, the Ang Ladlad party was denied accreditation by the COMELEC.

Which led to this reaction from Manuel Buencamino:

As to Ladlad, Abalos also did not recognize a party list group with the acronym TOMA. He said drunks have no place in Congress.

And then he offered a ord of advice to Ladlad and TOMA : ” Aminin muna nila na mga bakla, tomboy at lasenggo sila.”

Before proceeding to allow the candidacy of the fake Peter Cayetano.

A bigot and a tuta of the Arroyos is in charge of the May election.

What does this say of the person who appointed him Comelec chairman?
I think Manuel is refering to this statement by the COMELEC Chairman: “Kung nais nila na seryosohin ng Comelec ang aplikasyon nila ay dapat na gawin lamang ng mga ito na lumutang at aminin sa publiko na ang mga ito ay bakla, tomboy at lasenggo.”

UPDATE: Joselito ruling an invite to more ‘nuisance’ poll bets

The Genuine Opposition (GO) yesterday hit at the recent decision made by the Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) upholding the candidacy of Joselito “Peter” Cayetano, a namesake of GO senatorial bet Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros), saying the ruling will encourage more “nuisance” candidates to muddle up the electoral process in the country.

House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, also a GO senatorial candidate in the May 2007 mid-term elections, expressed dismay at the ruling made by the Comelec over the weekend, saying this would certainly cause a big dilemma on the part of the “original Cayetano.”

Representative Cayetano, for his part, said he believes that the ruling of the poll body might open the floodgates for many nuisance candidates being fielded for local elective posts.

He maintained that Joselito Cayetano’s candidacy was pushed in an attempt to block his election to the Senate, as fielding a namesake will confuse the public.

The Comelec decision, Alan Peter said, would set a dangerous precedent.

“This would even encourage parties to field namesakes to confuse voters for as long as they are endorsed by a party, which is easiest to do considering the multi-party system and coalition politics in the country,” he added.

Nah. Only the admin can get away with fielding nuisance candidates. Thanks a lot COMELEC. Thanks a alot Ben Abalos. Thank you ComelecAko. Thank you James Jimenez.

UPDATE: The issue of election spoilers first came out noong Jan. 4, 2007 when the admin vehemently denied it was looking for spoiler candidates to sabotage the opposition's senatorial candidates:

MALACAÑANG yesterday described as hogwash reports that administration political operators are planning to field as candidates persons with surnames similar to those of opposition senatorial aspirants to confuse voters.

Gabriel Claudio, presidential adviser for political affairs, said the administration does not engage in such dirty tricks.

Reports said Malacañang is trying to persuade a "T. Aquino" and a "J.M. Cayetano" to run for senators to split the votes for Representatives Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III of Tarlac and Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig-Pateros.

T. Aquino is Teodoro Aquino, whose senatorial bid got thrown out by COMELEC.

Rodrguez stressed that there is a precedent, as the Comelec had thrown out the senatorial bid of one Teodoro Aquino, who also purportedly aims to muddle the electoral chance of opposition senatorial bet Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

“If the Comelec junked the senatorial bid of this Teodoro Aquino, why not Joselito Cayetano’s? Between the two, (Noynoy) is much better since he has a following compared to Joselito, who has none,” he said.

But Rufus, they did not do it for Noynoy, but for Tessie Aquino, who is now with the administration's slate.

(Or maybe from the admin's perspective, there's no need for nuisance candidate Teodoro anymore since Tessie's Aquino candidacy will have that spoiler-like effect on Noynoy Aquino. Ginagamit lang ng admin si Tessie, and she doesn't even know it. Poor Tessie.)


Previous:

- BongBong esposes Joselito "Peter" Cayetano as a sham KBL candidate
- Adminstration uses dirty tricks against Cayetano

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