MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has urged voters to scrutinize the nominees of party-list organizations joining the 2025 midterm elections.
According to Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia, voters must take advantage of the opportunity to file petitions against those whom they think have questionable qualifications.
The list of all nominees of party-list groups has been published on two newspapers on Thursday.
“The Comelec cannot cancel nominations motu proprio. There must be a registered voter who will question them,” Garcia said in an interview. “Hopefully, the people will exercise the power and the right to question such nominees.”
Garcia said all petitions to deny due course or cancelation of the nomination of party-list nominees must be filed within five days after the publication of the list of nominees.
All party-list organizations were required to submit the names of 10 nominees from which the party-list representatives shall be chosen.
Under Resolution 9366, a party-list nominee should be:
* a natural-born citizen of the Philippines
* a registered voter
* a resident of the Philippines for not less than one year immediately preceding Election Day
* able to read and write
* a bona fide member of the party he seeks to represent for at least 90 days preceding Election Day
* at least 25 years of age
A verified petition seeking to deny due course the nomination of nominees of party-list groups may be filed by any person exclusively on the ground that a material misrepresentation has been committed in the qualification of the nominees./PN
