Over 17,000 COCs filed for next month’s barangay, SK elections so far

More than 17,000 Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) have been filed by aspirants of the May Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections so far, data released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the weekend revealed.

According to Comelec data, a total of 17,481 individuals have filed their COCs so far: 13,982 for the barangay elections, and the rest for the Sangguniang Kabataan polls.

For the barangay elections, a total of 1,986 candidates are running for Barangay Chairman positions and 11,996 for Barangay Kagawad.

Of the 3,499 running for posts in the Sangguniang Kabataan, 845 are running for SK Chairman, and another 2,654 for SK Kagawad.

The latest data covers  339 cities and municipalities. The country has 42,041 barangays, as of February 13, 2018.

Individuals may file their COCs until Friday, April 20.

The Comelec has registered a total of 78,017,088 voters for the May elections—57,382,446 for the barangay elections, and 20,632,642 for SK elections.

The upcoming elections will be held on May 14 and will be done on a manual basis. Votes will have to write down the name of one punong barangay, and seven members for the sangguniang barangay.

The same will also be done for the Sangguniang Kabataan. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News