Commission on Elections. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official has urged aspirants seeking a seat in the House of Representatives to have their certificates of candidacy (COC) checked at least before the last day of filing, to ensure that possible errors can be rectified.
In a briefing on Thursday, Comelec National Capital Region (NCR) Assistant Regional Election Director Jovencio Balanquit said that their office in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan, features an initial checking desk, where aspirants can check what their COC lacks.
“Yes (they should file early), especially ‘yong mga ‘yon na meron pang, ‘di pa sure about the completeness of the COC. Hangga’t maaari mag-file sila nang mas maaga, that’s better for them and for us. At ina-advice natin kung pwede, kung hindi pa sila sure, they can submit their COC for checking ahead of time,” Balanquit said.
(Yes they should file early, especially those who are still not sure about the the completeness of the COC. As much as possible, they should file earlier, because that’s better for them and for us. And we advice them that if it’s possible, if they are still not sure, they can submit their COC for checking ahead of time.)
“In fact, meron tayong tinatawag na initial checking desk d’yan so that bago dumating dito for the actual submission of the COC, na-check na namin d’yan. In fact, doon pa lang, marami nang di na nag-tutuloy muna, bumabalik nalang silang para ma-finalize nila ‘yong kanilang COC before they submit it to us,” he added.
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(In fact, we have an initial checking desk there, so before the formal actual submission of the COC, we have checked their documents. As early as that, they may have refrained from filing, so they have decided to just return so that they can finalize their COCs before they submit them to us.)
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Balanquit warned that aspirants risk the non-acceptance of their COCs if they file at the last minute and if errors are discovered, as these revised COCs would not be accepted after 5:00 p.m. on October 8.
However, he also assured that aspirants lined up at the Comelec-NCR office before 5:00 p.m. would be entertained.
“They should come earlier, because if they arrive here with a problematic COC, they have to correct that and submit that within the period up to five o’clock. It’s different for aspirants who line up before five o’clock, even if the office extends its operations, as long as the complete COC is available before the deadline, we will accept that,” he said in Filipino.
“But we will not wait for them beyond five o’clock if an aspirant’s COC still lacks some requirements, that’s why they should be here a minute or five minutes before the five o’clock, before the strike of five o’clock on the last day. But I hope that no longer happens. So, I am appealing to those who are planning to run, file your COCs early or have it checked before the before the last minute,” he added.
READ: Comelec-NCR ready for COC filing in coming days
The pace for the filing of COCs have been relatively slow, with only 31 aspirants submitting their documents after Comelec started accepting applications last Tuesday, October 1.
According to Balanquit, if there are two aspirants for each of the 33 legislative districts in Metro Manila, they can expect 66 individuals to file their COCs. But there is a likelihood, the Comelec official said, that more than two individuals will compete for the seat.
This is the case for Quezon City’s 2nd District, which already has three aspirants.
“Well, as we have said before, for example there are two aspirants for each district, so that’s 66. So we have (31) as of now, so we are expecting more. There are areas where there are more than two aspirants, like in Quezon City, Quezon City 2nd District, there are three candidates. So there are instances where there are three,” Balanquit said.
“So maybe, more or less 100 for the possibly, for the entire filing period,” he added.
READ: Nine aspiring lawmakers file COCs for NCR’s House seats
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There were 10 individuals aspiring for House seats in NCR who filed their COCs on Thursday, the third day since the Comelec accepted applications:
- Makati Vice Mayor Monique Lagdameo (Makati 1st District/ Makatizens United Party)
- Makati Councilor Dennis Almario (Makati 2nd District/ Makatizens United Party)
- Councilor Joel Tagle Villanueva (Manila 4th District/ Aksyon Demokratiko)
- Virgilio Garcia (Quezon City 2nd District/ independent)
- Francisco Palma (Quezon City 2nd District/ independent)
- Lino Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros District/ Nationalist People’s Coalition)
- Manila 1st District Rep. Ernesto Dionisio Jr. (reelection/ Lakas-CMD)
- Roel Bernido (Quezon City 2nd District/ independent)
- Rolando Aguilar (Parañaque City 2nd District/ independent)
- Luisito Redoble (Las Piñas City/ Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino)