Comelec set to answer misrepresentation claim vs. Quiboloy

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday that it will give a response soon regarding the plea to cancel the 2025 senatorial candidacy of detained televangelist Apollo Quiboloy for “material misrepresentation.”

In an ambush interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia explained that despite the recent move of labor leader Sonny Matula and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP), Quiboloy may still be able to run as an independent candidate for the upcoming elections.

“Patungkol sa na-file ng grupo ng Attorney Sonny Matula patungkol sa isang aspirant, hindi po yata sa aking palagay, sa initial kong pagkakatingin, hindi siya isang petisyon, isa siyang sulat,” Garcia told reporters.

(Based on my initial assessment, what the group of Atty. Sonny Matula sent to us regarding an aspirant was not a petition but a letter.) 

“So sa issue na kung ‘yan ay [regarding the issue of] misrepresentation, we are going to answer that later,” he added. 

According to the seven-page petition, Quiboloy’s nomination as WPP’s candidate for the 2025 national and local elections “had no factual and legal basis and, his CONA (Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance), was made by unauthorized persons.”

The WPP pointed out the controversial religious leader is neither a party member or a guest candidate.

The camp of Quiboloy, in return, also filed a petition seeking to declare Matula as a nuisance candidate.

Both Matula and Quiboloy are included in the initial list of senatorial aspirants whose names may be included in the official ballot for Eleksyon 2025.

Comelec earlier said that  Quiboloy may be declared an independent senatorial bet in the May 2025 elections after it received two sets of authorized signatories from the WPP, each from the camps of lawyers Mark Kristopher Tolentino and Ariel Joseph Arias.

The Tolentino group submitted its list on September 30, 2024, naming Tolentino and Roberto Pascual as signatories, while the Arias group listed Arias, and lawyers Sonny Matula, Allan Montano, and Oscar Morado as the same.

Quiboloy is facing a slew of legal charges, including the alleged violation of the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act and qualified human trafficking charges.

Party-lists

Following the release of the initial list of 66 senatorial bets for next year’s elections, Garcia said the Comelec will issue next the list of all nominees of all the 156 party-list, organizations and political parties that filed their CONAs.

“Tapos a week after, lalabas na namin ang lahat ng certificates of nomination and acceptance ng lahat ng mga nominees na yan at lahat ng certificates of candidacies ng lahat ng 44,000 candidates sa buong Pilipinas na nag-file ng kanilang candidacies mula October 1-8,” the poll chairman said. 

(A week later, we will release all the certificates of nomination and acceptance of all those nominees and all the certificates of candidacies of all the 44,000 candidates in the country who filed their candidacies from October 1-8.)

The period for the filing of certificates of COC was conducted early this month, concluding with 183 senatorial hopefuls and 156 party-lists filing their CONAs.

Garcia earlier committed to resolve cases involving nuisance candidates for the upcoming elections by the end of November this year. — BM, GMA Integrated News