COMELEC | The Adobo Chronicles

Partial photo credit: manilagrapika.wordpress.com

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – With only 23 days to go before the Philippine presidential elections, the word war has intensified between Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas. Among other things, Duterte has called Roxas “gay,” while Roxas says Duterte is “all talk.”

Well, the time for debate is over.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) announced today that it will hold a boxing match between the two presidential candidates to settle once and for all who is most fit to become Commander-in-Chief.

The match will be held at the Philippine Arena on May 2, just a week before the elections. May 2 also happens to be the one-year anniversary of the “Fight of the Century” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Meayweather. We all know who lost that fight.

Ironically, Pacquiao, who is running for senator, has agreed to be the referee for the Roxas-Duterte match.

Originally, the COMELEC wanted to schedule an underfight between the two female presidential candidates, Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, but both declined. They said they’d rather watch Roxas and Duterte go for the knockout.

CNN Philippines will broadcast the boxing match live starting at 7pm.

L-R: Duterte, Poe, Binay, Roxas, Santiago

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – In a move that’s unprecedented in the history of Philippine politics, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has ruled to disqualify all five major candidates for president from running in the 2016 elections. For various reasons.

Polls frontrunner Senator Grace Poe has been disqualified on the grounds that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen as required by the Constitution. She also appeared to lack the residency requirement even if she were a natural-born citizen. She was a dual citizen (U.S. and Philippines) at some point.

Vice President Jejomar Binay has been barred because of pending corruption charges against him while he was mayor of Makati City.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was disqualified on technicality. He filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) after the deadline set by the elections body. His argument for being a substitute candidate didn’t convince the commissioners because the candidate he was substituting for had previously withdrawn his candidacy.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago was named a “nuisance candidate” by COMELEC because of her cancer diagnosis. “How can she fulfill the duties of president if she has terminal cancer,” the commissioners said. Santiago, however, asserts that she has had a remission from her cancer, and the COMELEC ruling angered health and disability advocates.

As for former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas (the anointed candidate of the Aquino administration), his disqualification was based on violation of rules on early campaigning. Roxas just released a music video which was obviously a campaign material to promote his candidacy and that of his vice presidential running mate Congresswoman Leni Robredo.

So where does the 2016 Philippine presidential elections stand?

Back to square one. COMELEC will soon announce deadlines for new candidacy filing for president.