Almost 75% of nat'l position aspirants may be declared as nuisance candidates – Comelec
By Dhel Nazario
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has already made its move to trim down and filter the aspirants for the national position in the coming May 2022 elections.
From the total of 569 aspirants, Comelec Education and Information Department Director Elaiza Sabile-David said in a webinar on Thursday, November 4, almost 3/4 will be declared as nuisance candidates.
Based on the latest data presented by the Comelec, a total of 97 filed certificates of candidacy for president; 28 filed for vice president; 174 filed for senator; and 270 filed for party-list positions.
"The candidates will still be filtered and most of them, maybe especially for the position of president, vice president, and senator will be considered as nuisance candidates," she said.
"From what I've heard almost 3/4 will be declared. Law department already filed a petition declaring these aspirants (nuisance)," she added.
Sabile-David mentioned that currently, they are just waiting for the final declaration of the aspirants as nuisance and that if they will be declared, the list would be reduced.
According to the Rules of Procedure of Comelec, any candidate for any elective office who filed his or her COC to put the election process in mockery or disrepute or to cause confusion may be declared as nuisance.
This includes a similarity of the names of the registered candidates "or who by other acts or circumstances is clearly demonstrated to have no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the COC has been filed".
Meanwhile, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez has earlier said they are expecting to release the final list of candidates by the end of the year.