SUKDULANG pambababoy sa umiiral na batas ang hangad ng petisyong inihain kamakailan sa Commission on Elections (Comelec) ng PDP-Laban (Cusi wing) na nagtutulak para sa muling pagbubukas sa paghahain ng kandidatura para sa Halalan 2022.

Sa isang kalatas na ipinalabas ng militanteng Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), binatikos ng grupo ang anila’y basag na partido, sa anila’y pagpapamalas ng kasakiman sa kapangyarihan ng mga tinaguriang trapo (traditional politicians).

Ayon kay Arsenio Evangelista na tumatayong pangulo ng VACC, ang petisyong inihain ng PDP-Laban (Cusi wing) ay malinaw na patunay ng isang garapalang manipulasyon sa panahong dapat anila’y nakatuon ang lahat sa pagtugon sa banta ng pandemya at mga suliraning iniwan ng bagyong Odette na sumalanta sa mga lalawigan sa Visayas at Mindanao.

Panawagan ni Evangelista kay PDP-Laban president at kasalukuyang Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, pagtuunan ng panahon ang kanyang trabaho at hindi ang pamumulitika.

May pandemya man o wala, naninindigan din ang VACC na walang legal na batayan ang petisyon ng PDP-Laban lalo pa’t malinaw naman anila sa batas na tapos na ang itinakdang panahon para sa paghahain ng Certificate of Candidacy (COC).

“The deadline of October 8, 2021 was well known to every political aspirant and party organization well in advance and everyone had ample time to prepare. Individuals and groups prepared carefully and assiduously against these deadlines, and even great sacrifices were made. It would be terribly unfair for those who exerted great efforts and endured sacrifices to meet these deadlines, and for them to be told now that there are exceptions to these rules and an extension has to be made,” saad ng VACC.

Hinimok din ni Evangelista ang iba pang aspirante na sumunod sa itinakdang tuntunin – “Everyone has to abide by the rules as they are set. We cannot make exceptions just because the administration party is hopelessly divided and they had no politically viable candidate by the set deadline of October 8, 2021. This abject failure of the administration party should not bedevil our nation now. At this crucial time, we should be devoting ourselves to the urgent measures to save the lives of our suffering countrymen and to protect our economy from a worsening pandemic,” dagdag pa ng grupo.

Dapat din aniyang matanto ni Cusi na sagrado ang isang halalan lalo pa’t tinig ng nakararami ang dapat manaig at hindi kapritso o hangad na manatili sa poder ng mga nasarapan sa pwesto.
“Our electoral process – the very foundation and bedrock of our democratic life — must be held sacrosanct. In a genuine democracy, rules are meant to be firm and predictable and no one is above the law. With the Cusi petition, there is simply no levelling of the political playing field. We cannot change or invent rules as we go along. The administration party is ‘playing with a loaded political dice,’ so to speak.”

Payo niya sa PDP-Laban (Cusi wing), tanggapin ang katotohanang wala nang dating ang basag na partidong pinamumunuan ng Sekretaryo. Dapat na rin aniyang isuko ng naturang partido ang hangad nitong ipagpaliban o kanselahin ang halalan dahil hindi naman pinahihintulutan sa ilalim ng Konstitusyon ang pagpapalawig ng termino ng isang Pangulo.

“This desperate move is a miserable and last-ditch effort to subvert the will of the electorate through manipulation and political subterfuge.”