THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it will decide by the end of the month the 300 nuisance petitions filed against aspirants seeking to run in the national and local elections next year.
Elections chairman George Garcia said they will complete the resolution of the nuisance cases pending against senatorial aspirants this week and start resolving petitions to declare some 300 local aspirants as nuisance candidates also within the week.
The Comelec has declared 47 senatorial aspirants as nuisance bets over the weekend.
“We will be coming out with the decisions on the remainder of the 117 senatorial aspirants. After which, we will take up the local candidates, and we have some 300 petitions looking to declare them as nuisance,” Garcia said.
“Among local aspirants, the public can expect that Comelec divisions will start to promulgate decisions this week,” he added.
The poll chief reiterated that the poll body is bent on resolving all pending petitions against aspirants by the end of the month.
“We stand firm that by the end of November, the Comelec should already resolve, not just in the division level but at the en banc level, all such petitions so that the list of candidates will be cleansed come December,” said Garcia.
Comelec data show that 43,033 aspirants filed their COCs and certificates of nomination – certificates of acceptance of nomination (CON-CANs) for national and local posts during the filing period from October 1 to 8.
Of this number, 183 COCs were for senator.
The Comelec has already included 66 of the 183 aspirants in the partial/initial list of senatorial candidates via Minute Resolution No. 24-0824.
On the other hand, the 117 other senatorial aspirants were subject to petitions to be declared as nuisance candidates.
