Even if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decides to finally disqualify Vetallano Acosta from the presidential race, the Liberal Party (LP) said the belated move cannot undo whatever damage it has done to the candidacy of Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Since the printing of the official ballots has already been finished, LP campaign manager and former education secretary Florencio Abad said Acosta’s disqualification from the race can no longer make Aquino assume the first option in the alphabetical list of candidates.

“It’s too late. We have long been telling the Comelec that the only objective of Acosta’s candidacy is to dislodge Aquino as the number one candidate in the ballot but they did not listen. Now that they are reconsidering our point, the damage has been done,” Abad said.

Although Acosta’s inclusion in the ballot constitutes a “minimal” effect on the positioning of Aquino in the list, Abad claimed the Comelec’s attitude toward the issue “raises doubt on the impartiality of the agency.”

“Why would they approve the candidacy of someone who has been disowned by his own running mate? Why did they accredit somebody when the party he is supposed to represent doesn’t have confidence in him?” Abad asked.

It was recalled that Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the agency is reconsidering to classify Acosta as a nuisance candidate after Jay Sonza, a former media practitioner and vice presidential candidate of Acosta’s Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), disclosed that Acosta is not a registered voter as he has claimed.

Melo even exempted Acosta from the presidential and vice presidential candidates that the Comelec has invited to visit the National Printing Office and warehouse of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines at Cabuyao, Laguna. Melo said they did not send invitation to Acosta after his party mates want to disqualify him from the presidential race.

But whether or not Acosta’s disqualification in the race can be beneficial to Aquino’s candidacy, LP Secretary General and Cavite Rep. Jun Abaya urged the Comelec to rule on the issue the soonest possible time.

“It will be a form of injustice to allow nuisance candidate to mar the elections. Democracy is not something anybody can toy upon,” Abaya said.