DILG denies last-minute release of list of ineligible candidates

Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) denied that the list of barangay candidates ineligible to run were released only on the weekend before Monday's polls. Barangay chairpersons who have already served three consecutive terms or more (three years per term) are disqualified from running for the same position in Monday's polls. Contrary to the allegation of election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, Robredo said the list of ineligible candidates was received by the Office of Comelec Chairman Jose Melo on September 24. "The intent was to forewarn Comelec before the last day of filing of certificates of candidacy last October 14," he told reporters in a text message on Monday. Earlier in the day, Macalintal said the Department of Interior and Local Government committed negligence because it only released the names of the ineligible candidates on the weekend before Monday's elections. "Bakit ngayon lang magsa-subit? Hindi lang isa itong malaking kapabayaan ng DILG. Dapat noon pa nila ginawa iyan," said Macalintal, who used to serve as former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's election lawyer. (Why did the DILG submit only now? This is a serious negligence on its part. They should have submitted the names before.) Over the weekend, the poll body issued a resolution authorizing its law department to to file petitions to disqualify candidates who are "multiple-termers." The Comelec resolution was based on the DILG's list of 4,433 barangay chairmen nationwide who are no longer eligible to run in the polls because "they are already over the term limit." The list of disqualified barangay chairpersons from the DILG has been distributed to all election officers across the country on Saturday for validation. - VVP, GMANews.TV