1. Petition to Deny Due Course or Cancel Certificate of Candidacy

D. Remedies and Jurisdiction

• Petition to Deny Due Course or Cancel a Certificate of Candidacy
• Petition for Disqualification
• Failure of Election; Call for Special Election
• Pre-Proclamation Controversy
• Election Protest
• Quo Warranto
• Recall

Petition to Deny Due Course or Cancel a Certificate of Candidacy

> B.P. Blg. 881, sec. 78 Section 78. Petition to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy. - A verified petition seeking to deny due course or to cancel a certificate of candidacy may be filed by any person exclusively on the ground that any material representation contained therein as required under Section 74 hereof is false. The petition may be filed at any time not later than twenty-five days from the time of the filing of the certificate of candidacy and shall be decided, after due notice and hearing, not later than fifteen days before the election.

Petition to Deny Due Course or To Cancel A Certificate of Candidacy

Denial or cancellation of Certificate of Candidacy proceedings involves the issue of whether there is a false representation of a material fact. The false representation must necessarily pertain not to a mere innocuous mistake but to a material fact or those that refers to a candidate’s qualification for elective office. (Panlaqui v. COMELEC, GR. 188671, 2010)

Nuisance Candidates

Under Section 69 of the Omnibus Election Code, COMELEC may motu proprio or upon verified petition of any interested party refuse to give due course or cancel a COC when:

• The COC has been filed to put the election process in mockery or disrepute.
• Causes confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates
• Other circumstances which clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no bona fide intention to run for the office.

Updated: Materiality and falsity in a certificate-of-candidacy misrepresentation claim must be analyzed separately. (Comafay v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 279413, 14 January 2026)

Petition to deny or cancel certificates of candidacy

Who can file: Any person

How: Petition to deny due course or cancel certificate of candidacy under oath

When: Any time not later than 25 days from filing of certificate of candidacy

Where: COMELEC must decide the case not later than 15 days before election (period is not mandatory however)

Exclusive Ground: material misrepresentation:

• Must be false
• Must be material (goes into qualifications)
• Must be deliberate and there is an intention to defraud the electorate

The COMELEC must determine whether or not the candidate deliberately attempted to misled, misinform or hide a fact about his or her residency that would otherwise render him or her ineligible for the position sought. The COMELEC gravely abused its discretion in this case when, in considering residency issue, it based its decision solely on very personal and subjective assessment standards, such as the nature or design and furnishings of the dwelling place in relation to the stature of the candidate. (Mitra v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 191938, 2010).

Misrepresentation of a nickname is not a material misrepresentation because the use of a nickname is not a qualification of public office. The proper recourse is to file an election protest and pray that votes be declared as stray votes. (Villafuerte v, COMELEC,G.R. 206698, 2014).

Material representation contemplated by Section 78 refers to qualifications for elective office, such as the requisite residency, age, citizenship or any other legal qualification necessary to run for a local elective office as provided for in the Local Government Code. Furthermore, aside from the requirement of materiality, the misrepresentation must consist of a deliberate attempt to mislead, misinform, or hide a fact, which would otherwise render a candidate ineligible. (Caballero v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 209835, 2015).

If a candidate cannot be disqualified without prior finding that she or he is suffering from a disqualification “provided by law or the Constitution,” neither can the certificate of candidacy be cancelled or denied due course on grounds of false misrepresentation regarding his or her qualification, without prior authoritative finding that he or she is not qualified. (Poe-Llamanzares v. COMELEC,G.R. 221697, 2016).

The COMELEC cannot, in the same cancellation case based on the ground of false material representation, decide the qualification or lack thereof of the candidate.

In an HRET eligibility dispute, a final conviction for libel may render a candidate ineligible because libel is a crime involving moral turpitude even if the penalty imposed is only a fine. (Ty-Delgadov. HRET, G.R. 219603, 2016).

If the certificate of candidacy is void ab initio, the candidate is not considered a candidate from the very beginning even if his certificate of candidacy was cancelled after the elections. (H. Sohria Pasagi Diambrang vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 201809, 2016).

The summary nature of proceedings under Section 78 only allows it to rule on patent material misrepresentations of facts, not to make conclusions of law that are even contrary to jurisprudence. (JulietB. Dano vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 210200, 2016).

Updated: Deliberate use of a nickname to confuse voters may show a lack of bona fide intention to run, even though a nickname is not itself a qualification for office (Savellano v. Singson, G.R. No. 277514, 11 November 2025).

Distinction between Disqualification and Cancellation of COC

• A petition for cancellation of a certificate of candidacy is not based on lack of qualification but on false representation, which may relate to lack of qualification, such as residence. A petition for disqualification refers to commission of prohibited acts and possession of permanent resident status in a foreign country.
• A candidate whose certificate of candidacy was cancelled is not treated as a candidate. A candidate who is disqualified cannot continue as a candidate.
• A person whose certificate of candidacy was cancelled under Section 78 cannot be substituted. An official candidate of a registered political party who is disqualified may be substituted in accordance with Section 77.
• A petition to deny due course or to cancel a certificate of candidacy must be filed within 25 days from the time of filing of the COC, as provided under Section 78 of the OEC. (Fermin v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 179695, Dec. 18, 2008)
• A petition to deny due course to or cancel the COC of a nuisance candidate should be filed within 5 days from the last day for filing of candidacy. (Fermin v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 179695, 18 December 2008)