The disqualification of ER Ejercito for his gubernatorial post in Laguna is a welcome development in the maturity of Philippine politics. Let us set aside the issue of political bickering and mudslinging or partisanship. Let us focus on the primordial offense committed - campaign overspending.
Let us examine the facts first. Our election laws stipulate that a candidate for a local position, which includes that of a gubernatorial post, has a ceiling of P3 per voter. Considering the voting population in Laguna, candidates are only authorized to spend P4,576,566. Based mainly on the very documents that Ejercito's group submitted before the COMELEC, it was reflected that Ejercito spent up to P23,563,365.28 for his campaign. This is more than four times the total amount for campaign spending allowed by law. Not to mention the other undeclared expenses of his camp in the entire stretch of the pre-campaign, campaign and election proper.
The Omnibus Election Code specifically Section 68 requires “a party is declared by final decision of a competent court guilty of or found by the Commission of Election, spent in his election campaign an amount in excess of that allowed by this Code shall be disqualified from continuing as a candidate or if he has been elected, from holding the office.” On May 1, 2014, the COMELEC, in a resolution ruled to disqualify Ejercito as governor of Laguna.
The concrete issue has not been refuted by Ejercito's camp. On the contrary, his legal team attacked the ruling based on mere technicality. On May 23, Ejercito appealed to the Supreme Court for a reversal of the COMELEC's ruling citing grave abuse of discretion for disqualifying him based only on a mere request (not a complaint) to initiate a criminal proceeding. In a news article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on November 25, 2014, Ejercito was quoted when he pronounced that “The COMELEC assumed that the case was for his disqualification contrary to Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code."
Through a unanimous decision of 12-0, the the Supreme Court denied the appeal of Ejercito about the decision of the first division of the high court and affirmed the ruling of the Commission on Election’s decision removing him, from his post after he was found guilty of committing the laws on election overspending during the 2013 midterm elections. The hight court subsequently denied the petition filed by the ousted governor of the COMELEC’s first division unseating Ejercito for violating the Omnibus Election Code.
Time immemorial, politicians after winning their desired elective positions go scot free despite outright violation of election laws. For the longest time, disqualification cases were decided perhaps just weeks remaining until the end of the term of office of the complained official. The message here is clear: The political and judicial landscape now has changed. Violators pay for the offenses committed. This of course is not s sweeping statement as there are hundreds or even thousands of election-related offenses that are until now not yet resolved.
The disqualification case of ER Ejercito, who comes from among the most influential political clans in the country, sends a very strong signal to the electorate that politicians ought to be the first ones to observe compliance to the letter of the law. It may be a long way but I hope that this is a good start. Looking forward that the days of blatant non-accountability among public officials are over.
Speculations about selective punishment for non-political allies, as expected have surfaced. But this weak allegations did not, and will never cover the fact that election law were disregarded with utmost disrespect.
Ejercito, for all its worth may have done something good for his constituency during his incumbency. But these accomplishments are inferior to the most basic rule of leadership by example particularly to the same constituency he aspired to serve.
It may take generations for us to realize the kind of political maturity and accountability we all deserve from among our leaders. But this case manifests the fact that this journey has finally begun. It has been long overdue. But at least, we can now hope for the better.
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