Comelec won't print new ballots for Aquino

Friday, 05 March 2010 04:20 PM Mikhaela De Leon

Despite his disqualification from the May polls, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) bet Vetellano Acosta's name would still come first in the list of presidential aspirants on the ballot, as the Commission on Elections said it would not anymore print a new set of ballots minus Acosta's name.

This was the poll body's answer to the petition filed by Liberal Party general campaign manager Butch Abad for adjustments to be made to the ballot after the Comelec disqualified Acosta from the presidential race.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, however, said that printing new ballots would be a waste since there have been 9 million ballots already printed with Acosta's name on them.

“That's so much wastage. Pangalawa, kung gagawin natin iyan for this one candidate, paano na lang kung may ma-disqualify pa na iba? (If we are doing it for this one candidate, what more if another one gets disqualified?)” said Jimenez on TV's Umagang Kay Ganda.

He added that before the ballots were printed, candidates were made aware that there could still be disqualifications made against them, so there is no need to change the rules if only to favor Aquino's candidacy.

“Ngayong magkakaroon na ng resulta parang ang hirap naman to change the rules. All of a sudden may natanggal na reprint na lang nang reprint. Made-delay tayo niyan and it would be bad for everyone, (It's hard to change the rules, even though a result has been made. We cannot just reprint and reprint. We will suffer delays and it would be bad for everyone)” he said.

Aquino wants name first on ballot

In January, before the official ballots were even printed, Aquino's camp appealed to Comelec to disqualify the “nuisance” candidate Acosta.

Aquino's lawyers accused Acosta of trying to dislodge Aquino from the his original position as the first name in the list of presidential candidates. Since the names appear alphabetically on the ballot, Acosta's name would be first on the list, and Aquino will be trailing in second.

This did not sit well with the LP, citing a US-based study which claims that “the order in which the candidates' names are listed on the ballot has a 'discernable' effect on the vote share received” by the candidates. According to the study, the candidate whose name appears first on the ballot would “receive, on the average, two-and-a-half more votes” that those whose names appear after.

Disqualified, reinstated, disqualified again

A relatively unknown candidate, Acosta and KBL senatorial bet Atty. Oliver Lozano, were earlier declared “nuisance candidates” by the Comelec and were disqualified from the May 10 polls.

Acosta was reinstated on January 14 along with independent presidentiable Nicanor Perlas through Comelec Resolution 8743, only to be disqualified again on Thursday after being declared, again, a “nuisance.”

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