LP to ask Comelec to reprint ballots minus Acosta's name

Not satisfied with Vetellano Acosta's disqualification from the presidential race, the Liberal Party will ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) next week to reprint the 9 million ballots already printed so far, and this time ensure that Acosta's name is excluded. LP campaign manager Florencio "Butch" Abad told GMANews.TV in a phone interview Friday that they will file the petition "first thing next week." "Since according to the NPO (National Printing Office) only 9 million ballots have so far been printed, the LP will formally petition the Comelec to remove Acosta's name in the ballots still to be printed and to reprint the 9 million ballots without Acosta's name," Abad said in an earlier text message Thursday night.

The Comelec en banc unanimously disqualified Acosta, the presidential bet of the Marcos-founded Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), in a resolution released Thursday afternoon. [See: Comelec disqualified KBL presidential bet Acosta] The poll body said Acosta was a nuisance candidate, and that "to allow him to run would be of no good to the country as his candidacy only puts the electoral process in mockery." The Comelec said several situations and "factual issues" prompted the poll body to "re-evaluate" its earlier decision to allow Acosta to run as a presidential candidate. It cited Acosta's admission in a radio interview that he did not know KBL vice presidential bet Jose “Jay" Y. Sonza or the party's senatorial lineup. "A mere nomination of a candidate by a registered political party does not automatically exclude him from being categorized as a nuisance candidate, more so when... his supposed running mate, has repeatedly expressed that he is not supporting the standard bearer of such party," said the Comelec. The poll body also found it "bizarre" that instead of trying to become more popular during the campaign period, he made himself scarce to the media and the public. "He cannot just simply say that he is leaving his fate to God and to the people. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry can claim the same," said the resolution. The LP had earlier filed a disqualification case against Acosta, saying the latter is not the official KBL bet and that he was only running to dislodge LP standard bearer Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III from his original position as first on the alphabetically-arranged list of candidates on the ballots. Comelec records revealed Tuesday that Acosta is not even a registered voter in the area where he claims to be one, making him ineligible to run for public office. - RSJ, GMANews.TV