Comelec firm: Bets for senator will be in alphabetical order
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has rejected proposals to raffle the names of senatorial candidates, similar to what it did with the party-list groups, in determining their arrangement in the official ballot for the 2025 midterm polls.
Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Monday the candidates' names will be in alphabetical order.
«If we agree to it, we should also do it in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Sangguniang Bayan, including the political parties in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao should also be raffled. We will not do it,» added Garcia.
He said that the Comelec raffled the arrangement of party-list groups in 2019 to avoid confusion owing to the huge number of participants.
When the arrangement of party-list groups was still in alphabetical order, Garcia pointed out that most of them used the letter «A» and number «1» as a strategy to get the upper hand as listed in the ballot.
«That's why the Commission decided to raffle the arrangement of the party-list groups,» he said. «But for senators and other positions like the Sanggunian, we will not do it. Their arrangement would remain alphabetical.»
The Comelec has accredited 160 party-list groups and organizations but only 156 were able to file their certificate of nomination and acceptance.
AdvertisementMeanwhile, there are 183 candidates for a Senate seat.
«Of the 183 (senatorial] aspirants, the Law Department recommended 66 legitimate valid candidates who can be included in the official list of candidates for senator in the coming 2025 NLE,» Garcia said.
Petitions to declare as nuisance candidates will be filed against 117 others.
Party-list groups or aspirants with pending petitions before the Supreme Court still have the chance to be included in the official ballot if they would be able to get a temporary restraining order before the start of the printing of ballots in the last week of December.
AdvertisementGarcia also said that a party-list group could be disqualified if said group turned out to be a religious organization, if there is evidence that a particular group is being supported by the government or receiving support from foreign governments or
