Comelec chief votes in favor of nuisance candidate
Commission on Elections Chairperson George Garcia. INQUIRER / NINO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — In a rare move, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia voted in favor of a senatorial aspirant declared by the poll body as a nuisance candidate.
Garcia told INQUIRER.net on Wednesday that he sided with Felipe Fernandez Montealto Jr., as the Senate hopeful filed a motion of reconsideration (MR) last month before the Comelec en banc to dispute the First Division’s ruling declaring him a nuisance candidate.
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However, all of the six commissioners and members of the en banc rejected Montealto’s appeal, affirming the First Division’s ruling.
Section 69 of the Omnibus Election Code states that a candidate may be declared a nuisance if their actions or circumstances demonstrate a lack of genuine intent to run for office, among other reasons.
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Article continues after this advertisement“I believe he (Montealto) has the real intention to run for senator,” Garcia’s Viber message reads.
Montealto, a former Sangguniang Kabataan chairman in Iloilo City, is among the 21 senatorial aspirants who challenged the nuisance candidate declaration of Comelec’s two divisions, but all of their MRs were rejected by the poll body en banc.
To date, only 66 out of 183 aspirants are included in the list of senatorial candidates on the ballot, and the Comelec remains firm that it will begin printing on Dec. 13.
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READ: LIST: Full list of 183 senatorial aspirants for 2025 polls
Montealto said his camp will seek the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of his senatorial bid.
Garcia said Montealto’s name could still be included in the ballot if the SC issues its TRO before Dec. 13.
The high court once ruled in favor of a nuisance candidate.
In 2021, Comelec had denied Norman Marquez’s senatorial bid for being “virtually unknown” and having no political party, but the SC, in its 20-page decision in June 2022, said any Filipino who runs for public office cannot be deemed a “nuisance” and disqualified for lack of fame, money, or party machinery.
Marquez’s matter was already moot back then, but the high court said it found it necessary to resolve the case because “the same situation may recur in future elections.”
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Montealto, also an independent candidate, is optimistic that the 2022 SC ruling will help his case.
“Because of Marquez, the SC could have a guide already,” Montealto told INQUIRER.net on Tuesday. “Hence, they will refer to the Marquez doctrine in resolving my own case.”
