The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to require candidates to submit a copy of their birth certificates to be included in the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), and forthcoming elections.

According to Comelec Chairperson George Garcia, the purpose of the new requirement is to avoid cases of material misrepresentation and the possible disqualification of candidates.

“For everyone’s information, we will be implementing one of the additional requirements for the filing of certificate of candidacy, we want to do for the 2028 national and local elections and the barangay and SK elections, requiring candidates to submit their certificates of birth,” he said in an interview on Thursday.

“We want all candidates who filed their candidacies to contain or include their birth certificate. That is so that we can see better, we can know when that person was actually born, to avoid questions if the bets are underage.”

Garcia explained that requiring bets to submit their birth certificate not only addresses questions about age, but also avoids questions regarding their citizenship.

“(Also) the issue of citizenship. We will be able to see who the mother and father are. What is the citizenship of the mother and father, just so that no one can say why the Comelec keep accepting COC without looking first the citizenship of the candidates,” he said.

“Meanwhile, we should be looking at citizenship. Although, there are many other bases to know about citizenship. But that is a big step. The law does not prohibit us from requiring the submission of a birth certificate.”

Likewise, he noted that the submission of a birth certificate would prevent a foreigner from running for national and local positions.

“Isn’t it appropriate to prove when you were actually born and what your citizenship is by attaching a birth certificate? We plan to do it and implement that requirement for the BSKE, the requirement to submit a birth certificate,” Garcia said.

“We plan to do it nationwide so that there is preparation and we are just announcing publicly that the Comelec has decided to do that so that we will not be blamed that we are not doing anything to stop foreigners from running (for public office), or those who are not Filipino citizens, in any case, the birth certificate is a big help.”

The poll body has set the filing of COCs for the Nov. 2 village and youth polls from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5. (PNA)