The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it is planning to set the filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in July.
Comelec chairman George Garcia said that the early COC filing is part of their plan to manage disqualification cases that may be filed.
The BSKE is set for October this year.
“We intend also to have the filing of the candidacy by July. Mas maaga po so that we’ll be able to resolve all disqualification cases more or less, especially mga nuisance cases, earlier,” Garcia said during a Senate panel hearing.
“We instructed all our election officers to refuse to accept the certificates of candidacy of SK candidates who, based on the records of the Commission on Elections, are more than 24 years of age,” said Garcia.
“Therefore, the filing of candidacy is no longer a ministerial duty on the part of the Comelec as far as SK is concerned. ‘Pag po not registered voters, automatically we will not accept the candidacy based on the record on file with the Comelec,” he added.
— Ronald Espartinez