Wednesday, April 04, 2007 Jonas, Jonkie to Comelec: Remove Cortes, Ouano bets
MANDAUE City mayoral candidates Thadeo Jovito “Jonkie” Ouano and Jonas Cortes asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to declare as nuisance candidates the other Ouano and Cortes who are running for mayor.
Both candidates will only cause confusion and will make a mockery out of the May 14 polls, the Ouano and Cortes camps said.
In separate petitions submitted to the Comelec regional office yesterday afternoon, the legal counsels of Ouano and Cortes asked that the names of Lolita Gonzaga Ouano and Edgar del Castillo Cortes be removed from the official list of mayoral candidates for Mandaue City.
Among their other arguments, they said that both candidates have no bonafide intention to run for public office and have no visible means to sustain a long, tedious and expensive campaign.
‘Mockery and disrepute’
Ouano’s camp alleged that Lolita is a supporter of Cortes. Cortes also alleged that Edgar is a supporter of the Ouanos and was even seen alighting from their car before he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC).
Five days into the campaign period, both Lolita and Edgar still have not held any campaign activity.
“She endangered and put the election process in mockery and disrepute. She is clearly a nuisance candidate and should be disqualified from running. Her name should be stricken off the list of candidates, otherwise, the petitioner would suffer grave, serious and irreparable injury,” Ouano said of Lolita.
“So as not to confuse the voters, there should only be one Ouano in the official list of candidates. It should be the petitioner. He is more prepared, experienced, exposed, seasoned and fit for the job as city mayor,” Ouano’s petition read.
Both petitions were submitted to Comelec regional office past 2 p.m. yesterday.
Comelec Regional Attorney Lionel Castillano said they ask police personnel to deliver the summons to both Lolita and Edgar today.
They will be given three days to answer the summons and furnish copies to the petitioner.
All documents, including their response, will be sent to the clerk of the commission’s central office, to be raffled to either the Comelec’s first or second division for resolution, Castillano said.
In the petition he filed in behalf of Cortes, lawyer Francisco Amit Jr. said the filing of Edgar’s COC just minutes before the deadline last March 29 “renders his bonafide intent to run for office suspect.”
Attached to Cortes’ petition is a certification signed by Banilad Barangay Captain Dianne Abanes, stating that Edgar no longer resides in Banilad. (LCR)
