Mary Sophia Angela Buenavidez

Out of 183 candidates, 117 are still awaiting to be included with the 66 confirmed candidates for the 2025 senatorial run.

Photo Courtesy of COMELEC.

Compared to the 2019 and 2022 midterm elections with 44,801 and 47,583 filers respectively, the Commission on Election says that they received a total of 43,033 certificate of candidacies (COCs) hoping to run for the local and national positions.

183 of which are vying to run for a chair in the Senate, while 190 for the party-list representative.

Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia revealed that they are still reviewing who among the 117 aspirants will be removed and declared as nuisance candidates.

He also added that by October 14, those who object to a candidate can proceed with a petition to cancel the COC or declare them nuisances.

“There will be a ‘cleansing’ of those candidates upon finding out if they are only making mockery of the elections”, said Garcia on nuisance candidates vying for a position.

A nuisance candidate may be disqualified from the run once their COC is known to have no genuine interest in running, causes confusion among voters due to similar names, or dishonors the election.

Five petitions for perpetual disqualification against incumbents were now filed by the Office of the Ombudsman and are possibly released to the public next week.

It is expected that two to three weeks from now, the COMELEC will post the aspirants’ COC on their website for the public to evaluate and scrutinize.