AN OFFICIAL of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday, April 21, 2023, sought to defend their decision to immediately reject the certificates of candidacy (COCs) of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) aspirants if they are deemed as overaged.
In an interview, Comelec Spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said their decision to remove the mandate of election officers (EOs) to ministerially accept COCs during poll exercises is to prevent traumatizing the youth, who will be rejected for being overaged SK bets.
"Disqualification cases take a very long time to be decided by the Comelec. The youth, who faced disqualification cases, have been traumatized by this," said Laudiangco.
"To avoid repeat of that scenario... we will not accept the COCs of those who are more than one day of 24 years old on October 30," he added.
By immediately rejecting COCs of overaged SK bets, the poll official said they can avoid the need to file disqualification cases against youth candidates that are overaged.
He also said that the drawn-out process during disqualification cases is not favorable for young political aspirants.
"In 2018, we filed more than 6,000 cases to cancel COCs and mostly are youth that are overaged," said Laudiangco.
"Imagine, some 2018 cases are still subject to certificate of finality of decision until now," he furthered.
Under the law, SK bets must be at least 18 years old but not more than 24 years of age on Election Day.
For the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the filing period for COCs is from August 28 to September 2, 2023.
Earlier, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they will immediately reject COCs of SK aspirants, who are deemed as being overaged.
The move is in contrast to previous practices, wherein those designated to receive COCs shall have the ministerial duty to receive them. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)