Rules are Rules

"Persons shall be treated alike, under like circumstances and conditions both as to privileges conferred and liabilities enforced", this is the essence of the equal protection of the law clause.

COMELEC Resolution no. 9615 is the Implementing Rules and Regulations of REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9006 known as the Fair Election Act. Under this resolution, SEC 5(a) provides:

SECTION 5. Authorized Expenses of Candidates and Parties. - The aggregate amount that a candidate or party may spend for election campaign shall be as follows:

a)     For candidates - Three pesos (P3.00) for every voter currently registered in the constituency where the candidate filed his certificate of candidacy;

Based on the data of COMELEC, Laguna had 1,525,522 registered voters for the May 2013 elections. Thus, each candidate is only allowed to spend 4.5 million Php for his campaign. However, Emilio Ramon "ER" Ejercito, running for his re-election as the Laguna Governor, reported expenses of 6 million Php in political advertisements alone. This was a clear violation of the rule. This violation urged losing candidate Edgar San Luis to pray for the disqualification of Ejercito for overspending.

The first division of COMELEC disqualified Ejercito on September 26, 2013 and ordered him to vacate his office on May 21, 2014. Ejercito elevated the case to the Supreme Court. Though he was ordered to vacate his office on May 21, it was only on May 28 that he did it after his uncle, Joseph Estrada, urged him to honor the writ of execution that the Department of the Interior and Local Government served to install Ramil Hernandez, the Vice-Governor, as the new governor.

On November 25, 2014, the Supreme Court ended the controversy. Voting unanimously, the Court upheld the disqualification of Ejercito for overspending. This proves that whether or not a man is rich and is capable of spending more than what is allowed, he should follow the simple rules so that this will not be used against him in the future. As the saying goes, "rules are rules".