BATANGAS, Philippines — The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) has cancelled the certificate of nomination and acceptance of Mayor Meynard Sabili of Lipa, Batangas for representative of the lone district of Lipa City.
Quoting Dong Mendoza, NPC’s secretary general, Sabili, who is running against incumbent congresswoman Vilma Santos-Recto, said Sen. Ralph Recto requested the NPC to remove him from the party’s list of candidates.
“I was surprised that they want me to run without a party... The advantage of having a party is that one can file for substitution if something happens to the candidate... Substitution is not allowed when you are running as an independent,” Sabili said.
He said the NPC’s move to drop him from its roll was an obvious political tactic of his opponents, which he considers “unprofessional.”
“In the previous elections, they also dropped me from the Liberal Party so I decided to join the NUP... But I still won,” Sabili said.
In the absence of a political party, Sabili said he would run as an independent.
When asked for comment, Recto’s spokesman Aries Liwag said the senator left for Switzerland on Oct. 12 to attend the Interparliamentary Union assembly.