The Commission on Elections in Negros Oriental will submit Monday its recommendations to the poll body in Manila on the nine disqualification cases filed by local candidates against their rivals.

Provincial Election Supervisor Manuel Advincula said the preliminary hearing of the last disqualification case was completed Friday.

Advincula said the Comelec Central Office will decide on the cases after reviewing his recommendations that are based on documents submitted by the complainants and respondents.

He declined to comment on his recommendations, however.

Many of the petitions for disqualification focus on the respondents being a "nuisance" while one stands out for involving the citizenship of a congressional candidate in the first district.

Joselyn Limkaichong, incumbent mayor of La Libertad town, who is running for the congressional seat in the first district, was accused of not being a Filipino citizen.

Limkaichong, however, says she is not worried about the citizenship issue as she has pertinent papers to show that she is a natural-born Filipino.

Earlier, Napoleon Camero, through his counsel Anthony Trinidad filed a complaint of misrepresentation and refuted Limkaichong's claim, citing procedural "lapses" in the acquisition of her parents' Filipino citizenship, Advincula said.

Jerome Paras, who is also contesting the first district congressional race, also raised the same issue on Limkaichong's citizenship during a candidates' forum Wednesday in Guihulngan.

Meanwhile, Advincula clarified that until the Comelec Central Office decides on the disqualification cases, respondent-candidates can continue with their campaign.

Advincula said that, in some instances, a candidate gets elected into office before the poll body can decide on his/her disqualification case.

This is because of the volume of similar cases filed from all over the country before the commission that, due to time constraints, could not act on all of them fast enough, he added. *JG -

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