The Certificates of Candidacy and other related documents from different regional offices of the Commission on Elections arrive at the agency's main office in Manila on October 10, 2024, days after the filing of aspirants for local posts in their respective areas. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — The Supreme Court declared that lack of campaign funds for a nationwide campaign does not automatically make an individual a nuisance candidate.

In an En Banc decision promulgated on July 30, 2024, the high court said the Commission on Elections acted with grave abuse of discretion when it declared Juan Juan Ollesca a nuisance candidate for president in the 2022 national elections.

The court granted the petition for certiorari filed by Ollesca and annulled the Comelec resolution which cancelled his  certificate of candidacy.

“Unfortunately, in this case, in declaring petitioner as a nuisance candidate, the COMELEC simply relied on a general and sweeping allegation of petitioner's financial incapability to mount a decent and viable campaign, which is a prohibited property requirement,” the court said in the decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

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In his appeal before the Comelec and the subsequent petition before the Supreme Court, Ollesca pointed out that lack of financial capacity to wage a nationwide campaign effectively imposed a property qualification which is unconstitutional.

Ollesca told the court that he had the capacity to mount a campaign as there were pledges from various groups supporting his bid for the 

The poll body replied that the petition should be dismissed for being moot and academic as the ballots at the time had already been printed.

“From the foregoing, it appears that the COMELEC has the propensity to employ a ‘cookie-cutter motion’ that generally alleges a candidate's lack of financial capacity to wage a national campaign in an attempt to shift the burden of proving bona fide intent to run for public office upon said candidate,” the Supreme Court said.

The court further emphasized that a nuisance candidate is one who just wants to create confusion or mock the election process.

“A candidate without the machinery of a political party or the finances to mount a nationwide campaign cannot be lumped together with another candidate who was found to have mocked or caused disrepute to the election process,” the court said.

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Out of the 177 bets declared as nuisance bets in the 2025 polls, none were made so because of lack of funds, said Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia. 

“Nag-a-agree po tayo sa Kataas taasang Hukuman sapagkat ang kahirapan ay hindi dapat kadahilanan para hindi payagang makatakbo ang isang kandidato. Sapagkat tatandaan natin walang property qualification para maglingkod sa pamahalaan and therefore bawal na bawal na magdi-disqualify ang Comelec bilang isang nuisance dahil lang sa kahirapan,” he said.