Comelec starts purging list of senatorial aspirants

Guanzon said they expect the number of Senate aspirants to be declared nuisance akin to the figures in the 2016 elections — 50 out of the 172 who filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) to run for the upper house of Congress. (File Photo by Elmer B. Domingo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday started purging the list of senatorial aspirants for the midterm polls next year.

“We have authorized the Law Department to motu proprio (on its own) file petitions to declare nuisance candidates, just to start the process,” Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in an interview.

“In other words, they don’t have to wait for a complaint to declare a candidate as a nuisance candidate,” she added.

Guanzon noted that they began cleansing the list to beat the deadline in releasing the final list of candidates by mid-December.

“These are the processes that are now starting so that we can hit the target before Dec. 15 and we can print the ballots,” she said.

Guanzon said they expect the number of Senate aspirants to be declared nuisance akin to the figures in the 2016 elections — 50 out of the 172 who filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) to run for the upper house of Congress.

For next year’s polls, a total of 152 COCs for senator were filed on October 11-17.

The Omnibus Election Code states that the commission may, motu proprio or upon a verified petition of an interested party, refuse to give due course to or cancel a COC.

The Comelec can declare one to be a nuisance candidate if it is proven that the filing of COC aims to put the election process in mockery and disrepute; cause confusion among voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates; or by other circumstances or acts that clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no bona fide intention to run.