Comelec logs 221 petitions vs nuisance candidates for 2025 polls

Commission on Elections. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 221 petitions were filed against nuisance candidates for the 2025 elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Wednesday.

In a message to the media, Comelec chairman George Garcia said that of this figure, 117 cases were filed against aspirants for the national posts while 104 came from the local posts.

READ: Comelec releases initial list of 66 bets for 2025 Senate race

The poll body also released on Wednesday the initial list of 66 senatorial bets for the upcoming midterm elections. Of the 183 senatorial aspirants, 117 did not make the cut.

Among those who did not make the cut is senatorial aspirant Beth Lopez who claimed that she was the “chosen one of God” and that she would “curse” anyone who would disqualify her senatorial bid again.

Daniel Magtira, who professed that he wanted to marry senator Imee Marcos, was also not included in the partial list of senatorial bets.

READ: Comelec to complete purging nuisance bets from list before end of Nov

Garcia previously said that the petitions they received before the deadline of filing were all lodged against local post aspirants.

“They are all for local, so far no one has not filed in the national level, maybe because they know that Comelec can declare them motu proprio in the national positions and maybe they know that at least when it is local, the opponents can file the petition,” Garcia told INQUIRER.net on Tuesday.

The last day of filing a petition to declare a nuisance candidate is on Wednesday, October 16, after it was rescheduled from October 14. Comelec chairman George Garcia previously said that filing a petition should be five days after the last day of the filing of certificate of candidacy.

Further, the poll body is targeting to resolve the cases of nuisance candidates before the end of November. As part of their timeline for the election process, Comelec is also eyeing to start printing ballots by December.

Meanwhile, Comelec also said that 24 cases to cancel candidacies and one disqualification case were filed before them.

Detained televangelist and Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Apollo Quiboloy is facing a petition to disqualify and declare him a nuisance candidate for the senatorial race in the 2025 polls.

The televangelist is currently detained by the Philippine National Police since September over alleged cases of human trafficking and sexual and child abuse.