The game is on

The circus is back in town. Today is the start of the weeklong filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) at the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The early birds for sure will be the usual clowns, along with their “hakot” crowd, trooping to the head office of the Comelec at Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila.

Actually, a candidate need not file his COC personally as he may just send an authorized representative to do this. In fact, a candidate can even just download the COC form from the Comelec website and send the same back to the poll body through the same mode.

However, in the new rules adopted by the Comelec, the COCs to be filed by the candidates must already be accompanied by the certificates of nomination and acceptance (CONA). This latest Comelec requirement will attest that the candidate is the official nominee of a political party or coalition of political parties.

Those running for the national and local posts up for grabs in the May 2013 elections have until this Friday, Oct. 5, to file their COCs. But knowing how fickle the minds of our politicians and the state of flux of Philippine politics, the Comelec anticipates that nothing is definite yet even if COCs are filed already.

From the latest announcements from the Palace, no less than President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III himself will be the one to formally proclaim who will be running under his administration’s senatorial ticket. Constrained by lack of winnable administration senatoriables, President Aquino’s own Liberal Party (LP) has entered also into a coalition agreement to complete a 12-man slate.

Comprising the LP-led coalition ticket are candidates from the Nacionalista Party (NP) of Sen. Manny Villar and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) of Aquino’s maternal uncle, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. The administration coalition senatorial ticket is so far composed of re-electionist Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (PDP-Laban), Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano (NP), Antonio Trillanes IV (NP), and Francis “Chiz” Escudero (independent); former Senators Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay Jr., Noy’s cousin Bam Aquino, Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara (LDP), former Las Piñas City Rep. Cynthia Villar (NP), Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares, and former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros.

Sources said the 12th slot has been given to re-electionist Sen. Loren Legarda, who will be a “common candidate” of the LP-led coalition and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada.

Escudero, Legarda, and Llamanzares are listed as “guest” candidates of UNA.

The latest Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations (SWS) surveys showed at least 10 out of the 15 top senatorial bets are either current or former senators. Legarda and Escudero topped those surveys. But the Pulse Asia noted only 15 out of 36 candidates included in its survey have the statistical chance of winning.

That’s why many early birds positioning themselves previously and very visible in many presidential travels around the country have decided to withdraw. Surveys knocked sense into them finally.

The poll body, under Comelec Resolution No. 9518 issued last month, gave reluctant aspirants until Dec. 21 for their substitution. After Dec. 21, however, the Comelec will disallow any more changes.

Coffee shop talk is rife that ex-President Estrada is not really bent on running for Manila mayor against re-electionist Mayor Alfredo Lim. Only last week, I heard Estrada in an interview with radio station dzRH declaring he was “101 percent” determined to run in the Manila mayoral race.

But rumors have it that Estrada would eventually excuse himself and supposedly give way to former Manila mayor Lito Atienza to run in his stead. So I checked with Atienza himself about this rumor. “Wala kaming usapang ganun, tsismis lang yun,” Atienza swore.

Atienza confirmed though he is indeed running in next year’s elections but for Congress. Atienza is a nominee of the Buhay party-list of Bro. Mike Velarde. The Buhay party-list has won in the past four elections. Currently, it has two representatives in the 15th Congress, namely Michael Velarde and Irwin Tieng.

This rumor of Estrada sliding down in favor of Atienza could only come from political intrigues, if not speculations. Such talk erupted anew after Estrada announced last week he would also definitely go around the country to campaign for the UNA candidates in next year’s elections.

Estrada will join Binay and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as president of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) in the campaign sorties for the 12-man senatorial ticket and local candidates of UNA.

If that’s the case, then how can Estrada campaign for himself in Manila? In the same dzRH interview last week, Estrada exuded confidence he need not campaign so much in Manila. He cited commissioned surveys that showed him with 70 percent winning edge over Mayor Lim if elections were held today.

The personal appearance of the 75-year-old Estrada in the national campaign trail should be no surprise since his son, San Juan City Rep. JV Ejercito, is included in the UNA senatorial ticket. Enrile’s son, Cagayan Rep. Juan “Jackie” Ponce Enrile Jr., is also in the UNA slate.

The rest of the UNA candidates are re-electionist Senators Escudero, Legarda, and Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan; Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay; former senators Ernesto “Manong” Maceda, Miguel “Migz” Zubiri and Richard “Dick” Gordon; former Tarlac governor Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco; MTRCB chief Llamanzares; and PDP-Laban secretary-general, whistleblower Jose “Joey” de Venecia III.

Candidates filing their COCs will actually have until Dec. 21 to decide if they really want to run in next year’s elections. Hence, the COCs filed this week are just documents of intention. So for all intents and purposes, it’s still anybody’s game. But the game is on!