MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has ruled in favor of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader Apollo Quiboloy after the poll body dismissed a petition by a political party asking that the religious leader be declared a nuisance candidate and his certificate of candidacy (COC) for the May 2025 elections be canceled.
The Comelec First Division junked the petition filed by the Workers and Peasants Party (WPP) president Jose Sonny Matula.
“The petition deserves scant consideration for being unmeritorious and should be dismissed,” read the resolution.
According to the First Division, the petition is being dismissed as it is not in accordance with the rules of the Commission, wherein a petition to declare one as a nuisance bet cannot be combined with other prayers.
“Given the above-mentioned circumstance, the instant petition suffers from a procedural defect that warrants its outright dismissal,” the ruling noted.
The First Division noted that the petitioner failed to prove that the respondent was a nuisance candidate.
The Commission also said the claim that Quiboloy’s candidacy is a “mere strategy” for him to evade criminal prosecution or to deflect the attention from the criminal cases filed against him is not enough grounds to declare him as a nuisance bet.
“There is nothing in our prevailing laws or jurisprudence that bars an aspiring candidate from waging an electoral campaign during the pendency of a civil or criminal case,” the First Division noted.
“This Commission cannot declare the respondent as a nuisance candidate based merely on speculations and the unsubstantiated allegations of the petitioner,” the poll body added.
It also pointed out that the use of an unauthorized Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) is not enough to cancel his COC due to alleged material misrepresentation.
“Clearly, membership or nomination by a political party is not among the qualifications for the position of senator. Thus, the submission of a CONA that was signed by an unauthorized individual is not equivalent to a material misrepresentation that will affect the respondent’s eligibility,” Comelec said.
In response to the Comelec’s decision, WPP said the poll body’s decision on Quiboloy’s candidacy doesn’t worry them.
While clarifying that they have not yet received an official copy of the Comelec’s resolution, the WPP said that “even before the promulgation of the decision, we had already achieved our first and primary objective since Mr. Quiboloy voluntarily disassociated himself from the WPP, shortly after realizing that the WPP is no push over.”
“On this matter, we can confidently say we have already secured a significant victory,” the party added.
Last October, Quiboloy filed his COC to run for senator in the May 2025 polls through his representative Mark Tolentino.
The KOJC leader’s COC included an attachment of his CONA from the WPP with Tolentino as the signatory.
Matula questioned the legitimacy of Quiboloy’s CONA, which led to WPP filing a petition before the Comelec against the religious leader, saying his certificate was submitted by unauthorized persons and without the party’s consent.