Number of BSKE candidates disqualified by Comelec jumps to 39

Election-related wastes like sample ballots and single-use food and beverage packaging were “left abandoned” in several polling precincts and the streets during and after the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election on Monday, October 30, 2023, says EcoWaste Coalition. (File photo from ECOWASTE COALITION)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified 18 more candidates in the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataang Elections (BSKE).

Currently, the number of BKSE candidates invalidated by the poll body stands at 39.

Of the 39, Comelec has not specified how many won in the elections.

As many as 29 of the candidates were disqualified for engaging in premature campaigning.

Three were found to have committed misrepresentations in their certificates of candidacy.

Two were declared nuisance candidates, while another two were involved in vote-buying.

Others were disqualified because they faced criminal, civil, or administrative charges.

Some of the candidates are in the following circumstances:

• respondent to a sentence of final judgment of an offense with a penalty of imprisonment for more than 18 months
• respondent to a complaint involving removal from office as a result of an administrative case
• respondent to a case with the penalty of perpetual disqualification to hold public office under an Ombudsman decision.

Comelec is set to release more decisions in the coming days.

“As committed by the Comelec, through Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia, the remaining pending disqualification cases against BSKE 2023 candidates will be resolved promptly,” the poll body said in a statement.