Neal Cruz explains how Alan Cayetano got screwed

by the COMELEC, Arroyo's Supreme Court, and Juju's handlers:

Another priority that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should attend to is the disqualification of nuisance candidates. It is not difficult to recognize nuisance candidates. They are the candidates who cannot wage a national campaign, such as in a senatorial election which can cost a candidate hundreds of millions of pesos, or those who have the same name as a better-known and more credible candidate. The purpose of the nuisance candidate is to spoil the chances of the other candidate. With two candidates with the same surname, votes for that surname without any first name are considered “stray” and are not counted. Thus, the candidates lose many votes that way.

Of course, candidates who are adversely affected are quick to file disqualification cases. Because of the limited campaign period, and the time it takes to disseminate Comelec decisions and instructions to employees in the field, it is imperative for the Comelec to resolve these disqualification cases quickly.

But as in the resolution of election protests, the Comelec is very lackadaisical in deciding disqualification cases. Thus, the affected candidate loses precious time.

Take the case of Alan Peter Cayetano and Joselito “Peter” Cayetano. Anybody with a modicum of common sense can readily see that Joselito is a nuisance candidate. He is a poor worker who lives in a small house in a rural area. It is obvious he cannot wage a national campaign for senator. Even his relatives were amazed at his candidacy. And his nickname is not “Peter” but “Jojo.” It is obvious that he was persuaded to file his certificate of candidacy and use the nickname “Peter” to hew as close as possible to the name of Alan Peter Cayetano. The Comelec eventually found him a nuisance candidate and disqualified him. But when did it promulgate its decision? One day before the elections.

Then the Comelec said it could not remove his name from the list of candidates because the decision had not yet become final. Joselito had five days to appeal to the Supreme Court, which he did. Until now, the Supreme Court has not decided the case although anybody except the justices can readily see who is the nuisance candidate -- and the elections are already over.

To make matters worse, the Department of Education circulated instructions to teachers to consider all votes for “Cayetano” (with no first name) as “stray” and not count them. Ordinarily, these votes were set aside and then counted later in favor of whoever wins the disqualification case. But with the education department order, the Cayetano votes were not counted and forever lost, and can no longer be counted for Alan Peter even if he wins the case in the Supreme Court.

So you see, by delaying its decision on the disqualification case, it was as if the Comelec decided in favor of Joselito, or whoever his backers are. The purpose of his nuisance candidacy was achieved: to deny votes to Alan Peter Cayetano.