Melchor Chavez claim on 1992 Senate bid false
Melchor Chavez: Noong unang tumakbo kami... Tatlong kuwan na lang, hakbang, panalo na ako ng senador--1992 na kasama kami. Ngayon nagkataon lang na dalawa kami ni Frank, ni dating former solicitor general--the late Frank Chavez--dalawa kaming Chavez, kaya sa dami ho ng mga invalidong boto namin, hindi kami nakasama (When we first ran, I was three steps away from becoming senator-- in 1992. But former solicitor general Frank Chavez and I were both Chavezes. Many votes were invalidated, and we lost).
Luchi Cruz-Valdes: So kung hindi tumakbo si Frank, tingin nyo nanalo kayo (So if Frank had not run, you think you would have won)?
Melchor Chavez: Yes. Panalo. Sigurado, sigurado (I’d have won. Surely, surely).
— Melchor Chavez, Aplikante Sa Senado, April 10, 2019
Perennial Senate hopeful Melchor Chavez’ claim he nearly won the 1992 polls is false; he was declared a nuisance candidate and disqualified from running for senator by the Supreme Court days before the election:
On May 5, 1992, this court issued a resolution in GR No. 104704, entitled ‘Francisco Chavez v. Comelec, et al.,’ disqualifying Melchor Chavez, private respondent therein, from running for the Office of Senator in the May 11, 1992 elections.
Despite the court ruling, Melchor’s name was not removed from the ballot. Consequently, “Chavez” votes, which could refer to him or former solicitor general Francisco Chavez, were declared stray or invalidated by election inspectors.
Chavez was a candidate of the Liberal Party-PDP Laban while Francisco “Frank” Chavez ran under the Lakas-NUCD.
A profile by Tsek.ph partner Vera Files Fact Check said Chavez “tried to run for senator eight times since 1992 but was rejected by (the Commission on Elections) five times (1992, 1998, 1995, 2004 and 2010).”
A Philippine Star report published during his 2004 bid tells the opposite of the story he told in his interview with Cruz-Valdes:
It will be recalled that Melchor Chavez spoiled Francisco Chavez’s 1992 senatorial bid, when the former ran under the Liberal Party ticket but was belatedly declared a nuisance candidate by the Supreme Court.
The report quoted Francisco Chavez as saying:
I would have won then were it not for the millions of ballots declared as spoiled because they only carried the name Chavez.
References
Aravilla, J. (2004, February 19). Chavez vs Chavez. Philippine Star. Retrieved from https://www.philstar.com/metro/2004/02/19/239551/chavez-vs-chavez
News 5 Everywhere. (2019, April 10). Melchor Chavez. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/D0d1rnS7Pxg?t=858 (14:18-14:54)
Supreme Court Reports Annotated Volume 211. (2006). G.R. No. 105323. Manila: Central Book Supply
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