The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday has declared final and executory the disqualification of former Caloocan Second District Representative Edgar Erice from running in the 2025 midterm elections.

This comes after the Comelec ruled that Erice “deliberately spread false and alarming reports” and circulated “misleading messages to disrupt the electoral process and cause confusion among the voters.”

The poll body announced that its 27 December 2024 resolution affirming the Comelec Second Division’s ruling against Erice became final after the Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order.

Erice’s name would not be included in the official ballot due to the en banc decision.

The printing of the official ballots for the 2025 elections will start on 6 January.

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

Meantime, Erice has filed a temporary restraining order at the Supreme Court on Friday to challenge the poll body’s decision on disqualifying him.

In an interview, the former Caloocan lawmaker stressed that the joint venture between Comelec, Miru Systems, and St.Timothy Construction Corporation should be scrapped after St. Timothy’s exit.

“The joint venture should have been canceled after St. Timothy’s exit, as it violates our Constitution,” Erice said. “They didn’t study, analyze, no resolution regarding the new joint venture.”

Erice also blasted the close to P18-billion contract for the midterm polls, as there was only an addition of a screen in the vote counting machines.

With ballot printing set to begin next week,

Atty. Rolando Asuncion Jr., Erice’s legal counsel, hopes the Supreme Court will issue a decision by the weekend to avoid delaying the process if Erice’s name is excluded.