Winning bets accused of being nuisance won’t be readily proclaimed—Comelec

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will not readily proclaim election winners accused of being nuisance candidates.

“We are suspending proclamation of those with pending nuisance candidates petitions,” Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said in a press conference Monday afternoon.

These candidates are not automatically disqualified and will be given due process, he said.

“It will not yet be final,” Brillantes said.

“If that [nuisance candidate] will be proclaimed, it will become a different matter. It will have to be a protest,” he added.

Millions of Filipinos trooped to polling precincts Monday to elect barangay officials in more than 40,000 villages nationwide.