By Lane Afable, News Editor
A proposed legislation that seeks to prevent and criminalize nuisance candidacy was filed before the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms (CSER)of the House of Representatives (HOR).
The House Bill (HB) 07546, titled An Act Preventing and Penalizing Nuisance Candidates Who Cause Voter Confusion Through the Use of Identical or Similar Names and Providing Penalties Therefor, was principally authored by Laguna 2nd District Representative Ramil L. Hernandez.
Hernandez said that there is continuing, persistent and malicious practice to undermine our elections through the deployment of nuisance candidates with no bona fide intention to run, serving only to siphon votes away from legitimate contenders, frequently by using identical or similar-sounding names to cause deliberate voter confusion.
“Whether an individual acts of their own volition or at the behest of another, the act itself constitutes a deceptive subversion of the will of the electorate and must be met with corresponding penal sanctions.
“While laws allow for the administrative disqualification of such candidates, they lack a strong criminal deterrent,” Hernandez averred.
The HB 0756 for its lawful purpose, Hernadez said, seeks to rectify the issue by criminalizing the act of filing nuisance candidacy.
Moreover, the bill, he added, also adresses the critical loophole: the Principal by Inducement, citing that in many instances, the nuisance candidate is a “pawn” financially induced or coerced by a rival candidate to sabotage the race.
Under the present legal framework, the orchestrators of this scheme often operate with impunity.
“This Act ensures that the “masterminds”, too, are held just accountable as the individuals they recruit,” the Laguna solon said.
Further more, HB 0756 aims to strengthen our electoral system by:
▪︎ Imposing criminal liability on Nuisance Candidates;
▪︎ Define and penalize the Principal by Inducement;
▪︎ Encourage accountability by cooperation; and,
▪︎ Establish a prima facie evidence.
So far, the filing of nuisance candidacy under the proposed bill will be considered as an election offense and punishable by imprisonment under Section 246 of the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines.
The HB 0756 currently under study in CSER of HOR.
