Using ‘Estrada’ as a surname in the ballot will probably not work for reelectionist Senator JV Ejercito.
Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez said if Ejercito decides to change his surname to Estrada for the coming midterm electons, he might be declared a nuisance candidate.
Ejercito, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s son with San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez, had said that he plans to use “Estrada” as a nickname in the certificate of candidacy that he would file.
Ejercito ranked no. 14 in a September survey by the Social Weather Stations and was in the 11-17 range in a Pulse Asia survey on senatorial preferences from the same month.
But Jimenez said that Ejercito’s plan might not sit well with other candidates, especially his half-brother Jinggoy Estrada, who is also gunning for a seat in the Senate.
Jinggoy was released on bail last year after being detained for more than 3 years on graft and plunder charges for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
“If he does put Estrada, is someone gonna complain? That’s not for us to decide,” Jimenez said in a television interview.
Jimenez said there is always a possibility that Jinggoy Estrada will file a complaint on the matter.
“That’s what Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano did when someone filed a COC saying his name was ‘Peter Cayetano.’ That’s one of the grounds for nuisance.”
“This is a sitting senator, someone you know, but again, someone might have a colorable claim to say that that’s not his actual name, he’s not known as that. It’s something that can happen,” he said.
Jimenez said the Comelec would decide “based on the appropriateness of the name being suggested, based on the number of spaces, whether or not it will cause confusion.”
Jimenez said that while Comelec has had several cases where people with the same last name vie for the same position, “what potentially makes this different is that one of the parties has not customarily used this name,” he said.
“Someone else might have a claim that you shouldn’t be able to use that because of other circumstances. That’s a possibility, we’ll see what happens,” he said.
