MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday, November 3, started screening over 250 aspirants for national posts in the 2016 elections who are deemed as nuisance bets.

The Comelec First Division held a preliminary conference in the morning for the first batch of 20 aspirants. Only 9 showed up to mark their evidence and answer questions on their candidacies. (WATCH: Nuisance bets: ‘We want to serve the country’)

Around 25 more aspirants were summoned by the Comelec Second Division in the afternoon, said a staff member of the clerk of the commission.

“Tinitingnan nga namin ‘yung kakayahan. First, personal na kakayahan: ano ba ang iyong track record, ano ba ang iyong karanasan? Pangalawa, ‘yung praktikal na kakayahan,” said Comelec Chairman Andy Bautista.

(We are looking at their capabilities. First, their personal capability: what is your track record, what is your experience? Second is their practical capabilities.)

Bautista cited a Supreme Court ruling, which says that there are “certain practical realities that a candidate must face when you wage a national campaign.”

He added that these aspirants were given a chance to explain because “that is part and parcel of due process to show why they should be allowed to run.”

The Comelec law department on October 21 filed petitions motu proprio, or on its own, to disqualify 125 out of 130 presidential hopefuls, 13 of 19 vice presidential aspirants, and 128 of 172 senatorial bets who filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) from October 12 to 16.

The aspirants were then required to file answers to the allegations in the said petitions.

The conferences will last until November 10, afterwhich the two Comelec divisions will decide whether or not these candidates will make the cut.

Those who have failed to appear in these conferences will have their candidacies deemed submitted to the concerned division for resolution. – Rappler.com