31 file candidacies for national posts on fourth day of COC filing

Thirty-one aspirants for national elective positions filed their respective certificates of candidacy for Eleksyon 2022 on Monday, the fourth day of filing for COCs.

Twelve presidential candidates, 3 vice presidential candidates, and  16 senatorial candidates filed their COCs at the Harbor Garden Tent of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City.

Ten party-list nominees filed their certificates of nomination and acceptance.

National bets

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and his running mate Dr. Willie Ong officially filed their COCs under the Aksyon Demokratiko party. Both candidates officially announced their bid last September 22. 

Gabriela Women's Partylist, represented by its incumbent Representative Arlene Brosas, filed its certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA).

A faction of  the Philippine Green Republican Party also filed their COC and is the only party that has full slate of candidates, with Leo Cadion as its standard bearer while its vice presidential bet is Princess Sunshine Amirah Magdangal.

Comelec set the COC filing from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, 2021.

Comelec's challenges amid pandemic

According to GMA News reporter Tina Panganiban Perez's tweet, Commissioner Antonio Kho said they are following a tight schedule because of the extension of voter's registration.

Their initial deadline for the registration is September 30 but extended it from October 11 to October 30 for local voters and from October 1 to 14 for Filipino voters overseas.

"Yes, 'yun lang as wala naman problema sa extension (No problem with voter's registration extension) it's just that our elbow room is very limited so hopefully we don't encounter some extraordinary problems," he told reporters at the sidelines of the COC filing in Pasay City.

However, Kho said there might be other challenges during the health crisis such as the shutdown of the National Printing Office, which prints the ballots.

"Ang unexpected talaga yung consequences ng pandemic. 'Yung printing of ballots sa closed area yan sa National Printing Office, paano kung let's just say 4 doon ay nagpositive?" he explained.

(There is risk especially the unexpected consequences of pandemic. Printing of ballots is at a closed area in the National Printing Office, what if four people there turned positive?)

On the part of the Philippine National Police, it said there were no untoward incidents during the COC filing.