A total of 97 aspiring national candidates are now at risk of being removed from the ballot in the 2022 polls, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In a press conference last Monday, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said of the said aspirants, 82 are presidentables and the remaining 15 are vice presidentiables.
He noted these aspirants are facing motu propio cases from the poll body due to questions in their intent to run for their chosen positions.
The cleansing process, he explained, is to make sure every candidate in the ballot is qualified, and not because they have a certain number of candidates in mind, which could fit in their draft ballot.
“We are out to remove the candidates, who are nuisance or are illegitimate candidates. That’s it. If we have 15 (presidential candidates) who are qualified, we don’t have a choice but to go with the 15,” Jimenez said.
Comelec is allowed to declare an aspirant is a nuisance candidate if he or she will be proven to put the election process in mockery or disrepute, cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names with other registered candidates, or by other circumstances or acts that clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no bona fide intention to run.
Meanwhile, Comelec also received 89 petitions from other groups to deny due course or cancel the Certificate of Candidacy of aspirants, who would like to run in the 2022 elections.
Most or 86 of the cases were filed against aspirants seeking local elected positions in the next polls, while the remaining three are for those, who are running for the national positions.