Manila, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is eyeing to set the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) filing period at an earlier time to give aspirants ample time to appeal poll-related cases.
COMELEC Chairperson George Erwin Garcia noted that this adjustment would give enough time to the body and the candidates to appeal their cases related to the election and to their candidacy.
This comes after the halting of ballot printing process due to the recent appeals from some candidates that were already declared as nuisance by the poll.
Following these appeals, the commission needed to stop the printing process and re-print all the finished ballots to re-include the names of the candidates that have appealed to the Supreme COurt.
Garcia said that the adjustment is set to happen on July instead of the usual October.
If adjusted, the Comelec en banc can decide on the appealed cases by August or September.
“We thought that perhaps, in the next 2028 elections, we could have an earlier filing of candidacy. At least the candidates have September, October, November, and December to go to the Supreme Court,” said Garcia.
With this, there will be four more months for candidates to appeal and process their cases and candidacies before the scheduled ballot printing period on January.