Erice shrugs off Comelec disqualification

Former lawmaker Edgar Erice said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision to disqualify him from running in the 2025 midterm polls as Caloocan’s Second District representative is “flimsy.”

In a Facebook post, Erice said the Comelec Second Division disqualified him “for two reasons.”

“I exposed the anomalies of the overpriced and illegal [Miru] machines, I questioned it before the Supreme Court (SC) and I filed a graft case against Comelec officials. That is my constitutional rights,” Erice said.

He also alleged that Comelec chairperson George Garcia “is very, very close” to his opponent, Caloocan Second District Representative Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, as the former was her lawyer when Erice beat Cajayon twice in local elections in 2013 and 2016.

“The disqualification case is flimsy and I am confident the SC will not allow this,” Erice said.

Earlier the poll body said that the former legislator is barred from running in the 2025 elections for “deliberately spreading false and alarming reports” and circulating “misleading messages to disrupt the electoral process and cause confusion among the voters.”

“All statements made by Respondent contradict verifiable and widely available facts from the Comelec and all sources across platform,” the Comelec said in its ruling.

“Glaring is the fact that there was not any modicum of evidence provided by Respondent aside from bare statements made in the media. Hence, the information propagated by Respondent on the general conduct of elections are false,” it added.

Erice, however, stressed that the decision is not yet final and he will challenge the ruling.

“I will pursue the cases I filed against the Comelec officials and we will fight for country and people,” Erice said.

To recall, Erice filed graft charges against Garcia and seven other Comelec officials in August over the allegedly anomalous awarding of a P18-billion contract to Miru Systems as the service provider for next year’s polls.

He also alleged that a poll official received bribe money from South Korean-based banks through multiple offshore accounts.