The mayor of Cabanatuan dismissed the rival’s petition to declare her a nuisance

Cabanatuan Mayor Mika Elizabeth Vergara (Mica Mayor Elizabeth R. Vergara’s official Facebook page)

MANILA, Philippines. Cabanatuan Mayor Mika Elizabeth Vergara, who is up for re-election, said the petition of Nuevo Ecija Vice Governor Anthony Umali declaring her unpleasant candidate “frustrated logic”.

Umali, who is challenging Vergara’s re-election bid, filed a complaint with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on October 16.

According to the petition, on October 7, Vergara filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor of Cabanatuan City through her representative.

Vergara, however, filed for revocation but filed a second COC on the same day, October 8, with the same certificate of appointment and acceptance attached to her first COC.

Umali called Vergara’s actions “characteristic behavior,” arguing that she “brought the electoral process into ridicule or disrepute” and demonstrated “a lack of good faith intent to genuinely run for the office for which a certificate of candidacy was filed.”

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Both arguments are criteria for declaring objectionable candidates in Section 69 of the Omnibus Election Code.

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Vergara’s camp said in a statement on Tuesday, however, that the recall and subsequent refill was “to address deficiencies in her COC.”

“It defies logic to call me an inconvenience when I immediately stepped up to serve the people,” Vergara said.

The Vergara camp said she “has vowed to continue her campaign undaunted by what she calls Umali’s egregious tactics to control Cabanatuan’s future through a baseless election complaint instead of the ballot box.”

At the time of publication, Umali had not yet responded to INQUIRER.net’s request for comment.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they filed 221 petitions against “unpleasant candidates” in the upcoming national and local elections, 104 of which were for local positions.