Filing of COCs for 2025 poll begins

MANILA, Philippines — A fiesta-like atmosphere is expected to prevail in various parts of the country today until Oct. 8, as aspirants troop to areas designated by the Commission on Elections to file their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the May 2025 midterm elections.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said it’s all systems go for the filing of COCs for those vying for over 18,000 posts at stake in next year’s elections.

Garcia said the Comelec will accept all COC forms as long as these are properly accomplished, notarized and with documentary stamps.

“I’m saying this again: you can find in our website the list of venues in the entire Philippines where you can file your COCs. Please check them and be guided,” Garcia said in Filipino.

He reminded those wishing to run in 2025 to first properly accomplish their COC forms before proceeding to designated venues and limit to three the number of companions.

He said forms not properly accomplished or submitted in the wrong venue shall be considered invalid.

Those endorsed by political parties must also submit a Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) along with their COC or else they shall be considered independent candidates.

According to Garcia, the Comelec has the ministerial duty to accept all COCs even those with pending cases or other issues.

“We have no choice or discretion to refuse submissions. But if a candidate manages to run or if his name is included in the ballot, that’s another story,” he pointed out.

But he stressed the Comelec will disallow aspirants deemed perpetually disqualified from holding public office as ordered by the Office of the Ombudsman.

He said the Comelec may cancel or deny due course to any COC or even declare aspirants as “nuisance” and their names excluded from the list of official candidates.

Before Nov. 30, Garcia said the commission will decide who among the aspirants shall be considered nuisance.

The commission also hopes to finalize its list of cancelled COCs before the start of the printing of ballots in December.

In the absence of premature campaigning, the commission is powerless in stopping aspirants from mounting their own political stunts or gimmick.

“Since there’s no premature campaigning, expect to see fiesta atmosphere. We can’t stop them – those whose faces are displayed all over because they’re not yet candidates,” he said.

Garcia said aspirants can only be considered candidates at the start of the campaign period next year.

At the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing, Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said the poll body would no longer allow substitution due to withdrawal of candidates after the deadline in filing of COC.

“Only three justifications for substitution are allowed – death, disqualification or incapacity. If the reason is withdrawal, substitution would not be allowed,” he said.

“If their reason is to sow confusion, mislead the public or make a mess of the election, rest assured we will file what we call ‘petition to declare as nuisance candidates’ against anyone doing that,” he said.

Special registration

Garcia announced a special voter registration would be held in areas affected by Typhoon Julian. He also said the Comelec may adjust the period for filing of COCs in areas ravaged by Julian.

“There are areas in the North where registration did not push through due to heavy rains and strong wind,” he said.

“In our guidelines, we leave it up to the local Comelec to decide. Later on, there can be registration after the filing of COCs,” he added.

In Batanes for instance, he said, the local Comelec suspended voter registration.

Garcia said they also allowed the local Comelec to hold special registration in Cagayan, Abra, Benguet and other northern provinces because only a few were able to register.

But based on their monitoring, Garcia said there were still many applicants for voter registration who flocked to different local Comelec offices nationwide.

Garcia said the conduct of the voter registration was highly successful, with the number of applicants exceeding their target.

He lamented, however, that the commission also deactivated over 5.3 million voters.

While the poll body was targeting three million applicants, Laudiangco said they have already processed around 6.9 million applications. Laudiangco said they have recorded 3.4 million additional voters so far.

Meanwhile, Garcia defended the Comelec’s decision to still consider party-list nominees holding public positions who would opt to resign at the start of the campaign period.

Garcia said the arrangement is a “win-win” approach as against their previous policy of allowing them to continue performing their function even during the campaign season.

Under the new Comelec guidelines, all party-list nominees holding appointive posts are deemed resigned at the start of the campaign period on Feb. 11, 2025.

But election lawyer Romulo Macalintal vowed to file with the Supreme Court a supplemental petition challenging the Comelec guidelines for party-list nominees.

“I believe that government officials under the Constitution are prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity. Under a resolution by the Supreme Court, an act of filing is already a partisan political activity,” Macalintal said.

Garcia said he welcomed Macalintal’s initiative to seek an SC ruling on the matter.

“There should be clarity coming from the Supreme Court so we can be guided in the coming elections,” the poll chief said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said it has deployed at least 36,000 police officers to secure venues for COC filing.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the police officers are distributed nationwide to ensure no untoward incident will disrupt the COC filing.

She said police units will also intensify checkpoints across the country.

Police commanders were also instructed to start identifying potential hotspots in their areas of jurisdiction.

Fajardo urged candidates and their supporters to respect the electoral process and not resort to violence.

The PNP has not monitored any security threat in Metro Manila, including Taguig and Makati which are contesting jurisdiction over the 10 enlisted men’s barrios or EMBO barangays.

Fajardo said the PNP was present during the peaceful transition of the EMBOs from Makati to Taguig.

“We don’t expect any security threat. However, our security work continues,” she said.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) alone has deployed 1,389 policemen across Metro Manila. — Emmanuel Tupas, Daphne Galvez