Comelec says 117 Senate bets are 'nuisances'

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) Law Department has recommended to the en banc the filing of motu proprio petitions to declare 117 senatorial aspirants as «nuisance» and the «partial» inclusion of the 66 others in the official ballot for the upcoming 2025 national and local elections (NLE) and the Bangasamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections.

«Of the 183 [senatorial] aspirants, the Law Department recommended 66 legitimate or valid candidates who can be included in the official list of candidates for senator in the coming 2025 NLE,» Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Wednesday.

As a result, Garcia added, the Law Department also asked the en banc to approve its recommendation to have the names of the remaining 117 senatorial aspirants to the two Comelec divisions consistent with the Supreme Court decision in the Cipriano vs. Comelec case with the assurance that they be given due process and the chance to explain why they should not be declared as nuisance candidates.

Chairman George Erwin Garcia. PHOTO: MIKE ALQUINTO

Garcia pointed out that the list of 66 senatorial aspirants deemed as legitimated candidates by the Law Department is only partial because «we don't want to preempt the decisions of the [Comelec two] divisions and the Commission en banc if ever they will allow some of those in the 117 that cannot be considered in for the meantime as legitimate or valid candidates.»

In her memorandum to the commission en banc, Law Department Director Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal cited Section 26, Article II of the 1987 Constitution, which states that «the State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service,» even as she pointed out that «is equally undisputed that there is no constitutional right to run for public office» as pronounced by the Supreme Court.

«It is, rather, a privilege subject to limitations imposed by law,» added Tangaro-Casingal.

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The Omnibus Election Code (OEC) defines a nuisance candidate as one who files a certificate of candidacy (CoC) to put the election process in mockery or disrepute; or to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered