THE PHILIPPINE Congress probably doesn’t have time to amend the country’s election law before midterm elections next year, according to a former election commissioner.
Local politicians will be filing their certificates of candidacy by October, former Election Commissioner Gregorio Y. Larrazabal said in a Viber message. The earliest lawmakers could amend the law is after 2025, he added.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia on Wednesday said they submitted a draft bill amending the Omnibus Election Code to Congress in June last year.
“The [Election Code] is circa 1985,” he said in a Viber message. “Surely, lots of changes have happened since that time.”
He said the issues surrounding Bamban Mayor Alice L. Guo highlighted the need to change the law.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime B. Santiago told a virtual news briefing the fingerprint results connecting Ms. Guo to a Chinese woman named Guo Hua Ping are strong pieces of evidence that could prove that she is not Filipino.
Her critics including Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said she managed to become a mayor despite her questionable Filipino citizenship. Ms. Guo has denied the allegations. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
