Comelec disqualifies 12 Senate aspirants, trims down party-list hopefuls to at least 100

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified at least 12 people who have filed their certificate of candidacy for the 2019 Senate polls.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, however, did not reveal the names yet since the final list of qualified candidates is expected to be released either today, December 21, or next week.

“As of December 15… from 152, we’ve cut it down to 140. We will make the list available as soon as we can,” Jimenez told reporters at the sidelines of the signing of the memorandum of agreement between the Comelec, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Bangsamoro Transition Commission for an intensified information drive on what is the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and how the BOL referendum will be conducted.

Of the 152 who filed their certificates of candidacy for the 2019 Senate race, 14 are either incumbent or former senators, more than the 12 Senate seats at stake.

The incumbent senators seeking re-election include Sonny Angara of Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Bam Aquino of Liberal Party (LP), Grace Poe (Independent), Cynthia Villar of Nacionalista Party (NP), JV Ejercito of Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Nancy Binay of United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and Koko Pimentel of the ruling party PDP-Laban.

The seven former senators eyeing a comeback, on the other hand, are Juan Ponce Enrile of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. of Lakas-CMD, Serge Osmeña III (Independent), Jinggoy Estrada of PMP, Pia Cayetano of NP and Lito Lapid of NPC.

As for the party-list representation, Jimenez said that the qualified party-list groups have been trimmed down to at least 100 from 185 which filed their certificate of nomination last October.

Included in the 185 is the AA-Kasosyo party-list which nominated diehard President Rodrigo Duterte supporter and former Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson as one of its possible representatives in Congress.

Uson quit her post before prior to her nomination as a representative for AA-Kasosyo party-list.

Uson's stint in government service has been marred with several controversies, including her alleged propensity to spread "fake news" on her Facebook page.

Weeks before her resignation, Uson has drawn flak for a video post featuring her friend, vlogger Drew Olivar, who likened the administration's federalism campaign to women's breasts and vagina.

Subsequently, Uson and Olivar did another video where they mocked the sign language of the deaf.

There are at least 34,000 who are seeking an elective post in the 2019 elections based on the records of the Comelec.

“The printing of the ballots for the 2019 polls will be done by the first week of January, so we can expect the list to be out over the next two weeks,” Jimenez added. — MDM, GMA News