Supreme Court junks DQ case vs solon Edgar Erice

MANILA, Philippines —  The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition seeking to disqualify Rep. Edgar Erice (Caloocan City 2nd District) from running as representative of Caloocan City’s 2nd District during the 2025 elections.

In a 17-page decision penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting dated July 8, 2025, the high court’s en banc reversed the ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which had earlier declared Erice disqualified for allegedly violating the Omnibus Election Code. 

The ruling was issued after the SC had earlier released a Temporary Restraining Order to stop Comelec from enforcing the disqualification while the case was under review.

The case stemmed from statements Erice made during media interviews in April 2024, where he claimed that the automated counting machines from Miru Systems (Miru) had never been used in any election worldwide. 

He also questioned the P18-billion contract between the poll body and Miru, alleging a rigged bidding and claiming to have evidence of offshore accounts linked to Comelec officials, including its chairperson, George Garcia.

Comelec’s Second Division, upheld by the en banc, found his statements to be false and unverified, concluding they could cause public confusion, alarm and distrust in the electoral process. 

According to the court, the disqualification was based on Section 261(z)(11) of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits spreading false or alarming information regarding election processes with the intent to disrupt.

Ruling. The high court, however, found a procedural flaw in the poll body’s decision.

The High Court said that under Section 1(c)(3)(viii) of Comelec Resolution No. 11046, a candidate can only be disqualified if a competent court has already found them guilty of violating the Omnibus Election Code or the Local Government Code in a separate proceeding. 

The final decision finding the candidate guilty must come from an earlier case, and not the disqualification case itself.

“Instead of following the foregoing procedure, it appears that respondent Comelec decided to directly rule on whether petitioner Erice is guilty of violation of Section 26l(z)(1 l ), an election offense, and after having done so, imposed the penalty of disqualification. This cannot be permitted,” the court said. 

“The Comelec cannot skip the processes laid down in our laws, no matter how noble the cause of protecting the integrity of the elections may be,” it added. 

The high court emphasized that while Comelec has the authority to investigate election offenses, the power to decide if an offense was committed rests with the Regional Trial Courts.

In this instance, the Comelec did not observe the proper legal steps when it directly declared Erice guilty and then proceeded to disqualify him.

Furthermore, the high court noted that although spreading false or alarming information is an election offense, it is not among the grounds for disqualification under Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code.

“Considering that respondent Comelec had no power in the first place to disqualify a candidate on the ground of violation of Section 26l(z)(l 1) of the Omnibus Election Code, the Court shall refrain from determining whether petitioner Erice violated this provision,” the court’s ruling read. 

“To reiterate, the determination of petitioner Erice's guilt for this election offense should be made in the proper forum through an appropriate action,” it added.