Comelec mulls COC filing for barangay, SK polls by July

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is planning to set the certificate of candidacy (COC) filing period for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) by July.

Comelec chairman George Garcia said on Monday that the early COC filing is in a bid to resolve disqualification cases that may arise quickly.

Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia (file photo)

The BSKE is scheduled for October this year.

“We intend also to have the filing of the candidacy by July. Mas maaga po (It will be earlier) so that we’ll be able to resolve all disqualification cases more or less, especially mga (those) nuisance cases, earlier,” Garcia said during the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation hearing.

Sen. Imee Marcos, chairperson of the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, presides over a public inquiry Monday, February 20, 2023 on the status of preparations for the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in October this year. (Senate / PRIB)

“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 (If they are) not registered voters, automatically we will not accept the candidacy based on the record on file with the Comelec,” he added.

In the last SK elections in 2018, the election body handled nearly 4,000 disqualification cases involving overaged SK aspirants.

gsg/abc