P100k Fine Against Nuisance Candidates for 2022 Election Approved

Bill Pushes P100k Fine Against Nuisance Candidates for 2022 Election

The house committee approved the P100,000 fine against the nuisance candidates who will file candidacy on 2022 election for disturbance.

The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms have passed a bill to impose a fine of P100,000 on nuisance candidates and accomplices who only present a certificate of candidacy (COC) to harass or sabotage a named candidate.

House Bill No. 91 authored by Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, it seeks to amend Section 69 of Batas Pambansa 881 of the Omnibus Election Code to impose heavy penalties on nuisance candidates, based on the report of GMA News.

According to the Omnibus Election Code, nuisance candidates are those who serve the COC “to put the election process in mockery or disrepute or to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates or by other circumstances or acts. which clearly demonstrates that the candidate has no bona fide intention to run for the office.”

Sarmiento said that although the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has the power to disqualify nuisance candidates, nothing will stop them from repeating it in the next elections.

“Thus, there is a reasonable need to employ more measures to deter the practice of indiscriminately filing nuisance certificates of candidacy just to mock the election or to attempt to shave votes off of certain candidates,” Sarmiento explained in his proposal.

“As a deterrent to such practice, a penalty heavier than the mere refusal of due course or cancellation of a Certificate of Candidacy must be imposed upon those who maliciously file or cause the filing of the same,” the legislator stressed.

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