No aspirant to be disqualified due to financial status —Comelec

No one vying for an elected position in the 2025 national and local elections (NLE) will be disqualified due to financial constraints, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday.

“Ito po ang aming commitment: walang madi-disqualify ang candidacy dahil sa kawalan ng pera o kawalan ng pondo para siya ay makapangampanya,” Comelec chairperson George Garcia told reporters in a media briefing after the second day of the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC).

(This is our commitment: no candidacy will be disqualified due to lack of money or lack of funds for campaigning.)

“Otherwise, sabi nga ng Korte Suprema, you are adding qualification to what is prescribed in the Constitution. No property qualification is required for the exercise of civil and political rights,” Garcia said. 

(Otherwise, as the Supreme Court has said, you are adding a qualification to what is prescribed in the Constitution. No property qualification is required for the exercise of civil and political rights.)

Some aspirants who filed their candidacies for Eleksyon 2025 said they were disqualified by the poll body in previous elections for not having the capacity to mount a nationwide campaign. 

Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that unpopularity and non-membership in a political party are not sufficient grounds to declare an individual as a nuisance candidate.

“Hindi kami magtatanggal ng kandidato dahil lang sa kanilang itsura, pinaniniwalaaan, pinapanigan. Lagi kaming mag-a-adopt ng totality rule. Anong ibig sabihin? Background ng tao, kasaysayan sa pagtakbo, siya ba ay dinadala ng isang partido…Ganun ba siya ka seryoso ma-file at tumakbo?” Garcia said. 

(We will not remove a candidate due to appearance, belief, political side. We are always adopting the totality rule. What does this mean? their background, their history with running, are the being carried by a party, are they really that serious about filing for candidacy and running?)

“Madali ang pag-file…pero ang tanong dapat ba silang maisama sa balota…No nuisance candidate whose name is there in the list should be included in the final list of candidates that would be printed in the ballot,” he added. 

(It's easy to file... but the question is, should they even be included on the ballot?)

Based on Comelec Rules of Procedure Part V, Rule 24, any candidate is identified to have no bona fide intention to run for public office if they put the election process in “mockery or disrepute or to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates or who by other acts or circumstances.”

This may then result in their declaration as a nuisance candidate and their certificate of candidacy being denied due course or canceled.

Last week, the Comelec committed to resolve cases involving nuisance candidates for the 2025 midterm elections by the end of November this year. — BM, GMA Integrated News