MANILA — Senatorial aspirant and labor leader Sonny Matula has filed a petition with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to cancel the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) issued to Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who is running for senator under the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP).
Matula argued that Quiboloy’s nomination should be invalidated due to “material misrepresentation” and has called for his disqualification from the senatorial race. He contended that Quiboloy, the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, was not nominated by the WPP for the senatorial bid.
In response, Quiboloy’s camp has filed its own request, asking the Comelec to declare Matula and nine other senatorial aspirants under the WPP as nuisance candidates. According to lawyer Mark Tolentino, who introduced himself as the “chairman and president” of the WPP, Matula and the others are running under a different party, Workers Party Philippines, which is unaffiliated with the WPP.
Among the ten WPP candidates in question, only Matula was included in the initial list of valid candidates released by Comelec on Wednesday. Tolentino criticized the candidates, including Matula, for allegedly lacking a program of governance and failing to demonstrate seriousness in their senatorial bids.
Tolentino emphasized, “Apollo Carreon Quiboloy is the sole official senatorial candidate of the duly registered Workers’ and Peasants’ Party in the Comelec.” His group also filed a separate petition with Comelec to officially recognize them as the legitimate officers and members of the WPP.
Matula, in turn, maintained that he and his colleagues are the “legitimate candidates” under the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party. He explained that WPP veterans informed him that Tolentino abandoned the party in 2021 after being designated as Vice President for NCR and later representing the AASENSO party-list. Now, Tolentino has reappeared, endorsing Quiboloy as the party’s senatorial candidate.
Matula accused Quiboloy of trying to “hijack the party’s legitimacy,” pointing out that Quiboloy faces serious legal charges, including human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, both in the Philippines and the United States. Matula also defended his own platform, citing nearly 40 years of experience in the labor movement as the foundation of their political agenda.
According to the Comelec, as of October 16, there have been 104 petitions to declare candidates as nuisances for the 2025 elections, along with 24 petitions for the cancellation of COCs, and 1 disqualification case, totaling 246 Special Action cases filed.