THE Commission on Elections has granted motu proprio Petitions for Disqualification against twenty-one (21) candidates in the October 30, 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (2023 BSKE) on the ground of premature campaigning.
A Petition for Disqualification on the ground premature campaigning is filed pursuant to Section 80 in relation to Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), which prohibits any person to engage in an election campaign or partisan political activity outside the campaign period. The campaign period in the 2023 BSKE was from October 19 to 28, 2023.
On 24 October 2023, the COMELEC announced that it intends to suspend the proclamation of candidates who have a pending Petition to Deny Due Course to or to Cancel COC, to Declare as a Nuisance Candidate, or for Disqualification so as not to “render nugatory the findings of the Commission” in the said cases.
Of the 21 Resolutions, 17 have attained the status of final and executory, three have timely moved for reconsideration of the decision, while one still has time before the lapse of the period to file a Motion for Reconsideration or the issuance of Certificate of Finality and Entry of Judgment.
As of 9 November 2023, the COMELEC has disqualified a total of 21 candidates who either won or lost in the recently concluded elections.
Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia has committed that the remaining 318 motu proprio cases as of 9 November 2023, with 292 cases for premature/illegal campaigning and 26 for vote-buying and/or vote-selling, will be resolved with haste.
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