MANILA, Philippines – Since President Rodrigo Duterte said Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano will run for Congress, does this mean Cayetano needs to resign and file his certificate of candidacy (COC) by October 17?

Not necessarily.

Remember how Duterte did it in 2016? It’s the process called substitution, where a candidate can run as the substitute of another bet.

The Omnibus Election Code, which was approved in 1985 and is effective to this day, lists 3 ways by which substitution can take place: 

• If the original candidate withdraws (substitution due to withdrawal)
• If the original candidate dies 
• If the original candidate is disqualified 

The substitute candidate should belong to and be nominated by the same political party of coalition where the original candidate belongs.

Deadline for substitution

This year, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is allowing substitution due to withdrawal only until November 29. 

Substitution of candidates who died or were disqualified by final judgment is allowed until midday of election day. This is allowed as long as “the substitute and the substituted have the same surnames,” according to Comelec Resolution No 10430.

The filing of COCs will run from October 11 to 17, excluding weekends. 

Duterte said Cayetano is running as congressman in Taguig, his family’s bailiwick. The foreign secretary has not commented on the President’s announcement.  

For the 2016 elections, Duterte did not file his candidacy during COC filing week, but later took advantage of substitution due to withdrawal. He ran as the substitute of PDP-Laban’s Martin Diño, who later got posts in government.

While COC filing back then ended on October 16, 2015, Diño withdrew his presidential candidacy on October 29, 2015, and Duterte filed his COC for president only on November 27, 2015. Back then, the deadline for substitution due to withdrawal was December 10, 2015. – Rappler.com