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MANILA: Partido Lakas ng Masa vice presidential bet Walden Bello publicly challenged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to penalise his rival Sara Duterte and her presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos for snubbing the poll body’s debates.

“The Commission on Elections should do something about this. Commissioner, Chair, maari ba, can you penalize these two people, Marcos and Sara Duterte, for not showing themselves to the Filipino people with their programs so that masuri ng Filipino people yung kanilang record at yung program nila?” Bello questioned during the Comelec’s first vice presidential debates on Sunday.

[Translation: The Commission on Elections should do something about this. Commissioner, Chair, is it possible that you penalize these two people, Marcos and Sara Duterte, for not showing themselves to the Filipino people with their programs so that they can assess their record and programs?]

Bello made the remark after he refused to answer the question on what his policy areas of expertise are that he can share to the president, if he wins the vice presidency.

Just like in the CNN Philippines Vice Presidential Debate last Feb. 26, the former party-list lawmaker again repeatedly blasted Duterte’s absence in some parts of the debate.

“Sara Duterte is not with us. We’re slashing one another for her benefit,” lamented Bello.

The vice presidentiable also hit the Comelec for its apparently lax penalty for debate skippers. The poll body earlier noted that the absent candidate will no longer be allowed to use its e-rally platform up to the end of the campaign period as penalty.

“We need stronger penalties for these people. This is so undemocratic that they’re not here. I’m tempted to walk out right now,” Bello said.

“We are making fools of ourselves without this person who is just clapping up there. Mr. Chair (Pangarungan), can you answer this? We need your answer. You are the Commission on Elections. You can penalize these two jokers, Marcos and Duterte, for not showing up. They are spitting in the face of the Filipino people,” Bello ranted.

The vice presidential aspirant also suggested to the Comelec to fine Marcos and Duterte with ₱203 billion, the same amount of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos heirs’ estate taxes.

In response to Bello’s appeal, Pangarungan promised they will tackle the matter during the poll body’s en banc session on Wednesday for a possible resolution mandating a penalty for debate skippers.

“We have to consult the other commissioners on this,” Pangarungan told reporters after the debate.

However, Comelec commissioner George Garcia stressed there is a need for an enabling law to compel the poll body to sanction those who will skip debates.

“Comelec can only implement laws that are promulgated by the legislative department. There should be a law. Yung punishment na yan ay manggagaling sa ating legislature, hindi pwedeng Comelec ang magpa-punish ng walang batas (The punishment should come from the legislature. It is not legally right that Comelec punishes without an enabling law),” said Garcia who also confirmed they will deliberate on the issue in this week’s en banc meeting.

Marcos and Duterte, the current presidential and vice presidential frontrunners in several pre-election surveys, have skipped the Comelec debates this weekend. They were also absent in the CNN Philippines Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates late last month.