ACCORDING TO COMELEC Chair Jose Melo, “Estrada may run until a complaint is filed against him.” (Inquirer, 10/23/09) This is presumably because of the constitutional ban on reelection.

Is the Commission on Elections not supposed to check the certificates of candidacy and see if the applicants are qualified? Are they not supposed to approve or disapprove it?

What if nobody files a complaint? Then the application is deemed approved. Comelec Chair Melo said that “it seems that he [Estrada] is qualified because there is no protest against him.” It is the Comelec who should say if a candidate is qualified or not.

If an application is disapproved, the candidate can go to court. If it is approved, a third party can contest it in the courts.

—B. B. NARANJO,

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