Party vote for Gibo may have violated election law

The administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD party could have violated the Omnibus Election Code when it recently picked Defense Secretary Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro as its presidential candidate for the 2010 elections, according to an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). “There might be a violation of Section 261 paragraph (cc) of the Election Code," Comelec law department chief Ferdinand Rafanan told GMANews.TV on Thursday. However, he stressed that his opinion did not reflect the stand of the Comelec. The Omnibus Election Code prohibits any political party from holding “political conventions or meetings to nominate its official candidates earlier than the period fixed in" the law, he said. According to the Comelec calendar, the schedule for holding political conventions to nominate official party candidates for all elective positions in the 2010 elections will start on Oct. 21, 2009 and end on Nov. 19, 2009. Filing of certificates of candidacy follows, from Nov. 20 to Nov. 30, 2009. Lakas-Kampi-CMD's secretary-general, Gabriel Claudio, countered Rafanan’s claim, saying its fourth national executive meeting held at the Edsa Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City last Sept. 16 was not a convention but merely a consensus-building exercise. Romulo Macalintal, the election counsel of the party’s national chairperson, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, echoed Claudio’s statement, saying the event “was just a meeting" that “did not involve nominating a candidate." However, Macalintal’s statement contradicted Claudio’s pronouncement last Wednesday. "In the end, however, one man alone had to be chosen and the standard-bearer to lead the party in the election for 2010… The candidate of Lakas-Kampi-CMD for the 2010 presidential elections, as endorsed by the party national executive committee is the honorable Gilberto Teodoro Jr.," Claudio said during the Lakas-Kampi-CMD meeting. Not a convention Party vice president for membership and recruitment Prospero Pichay Jr. said Teodoro was selected by the committee through secret voting. In an interview after the meeting, party spokesman Rep. Antonio Alvarez said the voting results were 44-5 in favor of Teodoro. Claudio said during the event that the committee members’ choice would still be “subject to ratification by the national convention." On Thursday, Claudio told reporters, “No election law or rules of the Comelec were violated. What was held yesterday was not a political convention but a consensus building exercise to preliminarily indicate a clear preference and consensus leading to Secretary Teodoro's formal nomination at the proper time." He added: “Yesterday's decision was a consensus of the national executive committee of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, the highest governing body of the party. This is the first step in a two-stage process. A national convention, the second step, will still be held to ratify and validate the preference for and endorsement of Secretary Teodoro by executive committee within the period prescribed by law." In a separate interview with GMANews.TV on Thursday, Macalintal asserted that “It was not a political convention. Eh 60 members lang ang umattend dun. Kapag convention all members will meet to pick nominees… Hindi pa si Teodoro ang standard-bearer." (It was not a political convention. Only 60 members attended. If it is a convention, all members will meet to pick nominees. Teodoro is not yet the standard-bearer.) Still prohibited Rafanan said the issue was not on whether the event was a meeting or a convention. “Formal or informal convention man iyan, meron namang voting. Whole day event iyon. May coverage ng media… So bawal pa rin iyon kasi part pa rin iyon ng selection process," said Rafanan. (Whether it was a formal or informal convention, voting was done. It was a whole day event. There was media coverage… So it’s still prohibited because it was still part of the selection process.) Lawyer Luie Guia, director of the Democratic and Electoral Reform Desk of the non-government lawyers’ organization, Libertas, supported Rafanan’s observations. “Salu-salo, meeting, anuman tawag nila diyan (Gathering, meeting, whatever they call it), that is still part of selecting a candidate… Siyempre hindi nila aaminin na (Of course, they will not admit that) they formally selected their official candidates for the election," Guia told GMANews.TV on Thursday. Guia said the party’s actual convention would only serve as a “confirmatory act" for Wednesday’s event. Asked if other political parties who had already proclaimed their presidential bets for the 2010 polls could also be held in violation of the Election Code, Rafanan said, “Puwede rin (It’s possible)." The Nacionalista Party had already proclaimed Sen. Manuel “Manny" Villar as its standard-bearer, while the Liberal Party already picked Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III as its presidential bet. “Pero mas mabigat iyong sa Lakas-Kampi-CMD kasi sa kanila may voting. Iyong sa iba, wala, proclaim proclaim lang naman iyon (But that of Lakas-Kampi-CMD has more weight because they had voting, unlike in other parties wherein only proclamation was made)," Rafanan said. - GMANews.TV