In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, a nuisance candidate is an official term for an aspirant

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

for a

public office Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

whose certificate of candidacy was not accepted by the

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

(COMELEC) either ''

motu proprio In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a do ...

'' by the election body itself or upon a verified

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

of an interested party.

Legal definition

Section 69 of the Omnibus Election Code states that a nuisance candidate is someone who has filed a certificate of candidacy with the intention of: #putting the election process in mockery or disrepute #causing confusion among voters by the similarity of their name to other registered candidates #other circumstances or acts which clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no ''bona fide'' intention to run for the office for which the certificate of candidacy has been filed and is consequently preventing a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate. The Law Department of the COMELEC in Manila has the sole authority to declare someone a nuisance candidate. Regional and provincial COMELEC offices has no jurisdiction regarding the matter.

Managing candidacies

COMELEC also cannot prevent persons from filing certificates of candidacy even if they were declared a nuisance candidate in the past. The election body could also determine those who aspire to run as Independents as nuisance candidates if they could not prove their capacity to independently launch an election campaign. The capability to launch a campaign is not necessarily equate to the financial resources of an aspirant. A candidate may have enough supporters to conduct a campaign. The

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruled in ''Marquez vs. COMELEC'' that not being financially capable to mount a nationwide campaign is not a reason for the commission to declare someone as a nuisance candidate. During the 18th Congress, a bill has been proposed imposing a fine on aspirants who were deemed to be nuisance candidates.

Notable nuisance candidates

The following people who filed certificates of candidacy for a public office at the national level (Senator, Vice President, President) were officially declared as nuisance candidates by COMELEC: Key
Put the election process in mockery or disrepute.
Caused confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates.
Other circumstances or acts which clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no ''bona fide'' intention to run for the office for which the certificate of candidacy has been filed and thus prevents a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate
No Information

For President

For Senator

References