Re “Comelec bares rules on substitution of candidates” (Inquirer, 10/10/09): It is completely understandable to me that a candidate substituting for another who withdraws from the 2010 race must file his own certificate of candidacy not later than Dec. 14, 2009. Indeed, that deadline, unexampled in the past, should give the commission the five to six months it needs to prepare the official ballots, which must now, and for the first time, contain the official list of all candidates. What I still do not know is how the commission would handle a relatively more intricate problem when ex-President Joseph Estrada’s decision to contest the presidency inevitably throws a monkey wrench into our first-ever national automated elections.

Everybody knows that none but the Supreme Court may rule on Erap’s legal capacity to run.

That, incidentally, is why I have always laughed at columnists and legal luminaries endlessly debating an issue which, bereft of a referee, is just a pathetic waste of time. But my personal impression is beside the point. The point is the high court’s rulings in these parts generally take at least three months, from when an issue becomes justiciable. And that is ignoring the time for motions for review, etc, after the initial ruling has been issued. At the earliest, then, Erap’s case would become justiciable after Dec. 14, when the Comelec shall have received all the certificates of candidacy and is ready to order the printing of the ballots. I seriously doubt the ballot printing process is amenable, if necessary, to a re-run.

At that juncture, then, I ask: “What kind of ballot must the Comelec order to be printed?” Is it one that includes or excludes Estrada among the presidential candidates? I assume that would somehow depend on the Comelec’s own position on Erap’s capacity or incapacity to run. And so, assuming it believes Erap is qualified, and thus has put his name on the ballot, will the votes cast for him be counted even if he may be eventually disqualified? On the other hand, if the Comelec is of the opinion that Erap cannot run and has thus excluded his name in the ballot, what happens if the Justices finally rule in his favor?

—RUDY L. CORONEL,
Sto. Nino Village, Bolbok,
Batangas City