As early as 8 AM Monday, first congressional district representative Karlo Nograles arrived at the Comelec office, making him the earliest in the city to file his CoC to run for next year’s midterm elections.
By MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — On the first day of the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (CoC), two candidates from long time politician families trooped to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and announced their bid.
As early as 8 AM Monday, first congressional district representative Karlo Nograles arrived at the Comelec office, making him the earliest in the city to file his CoC to run for next year’s midterm elections. The Nograles scion succeeded his father, Prospero Nograles, a former House Speaker.
The other early bird at the Comelec is veteran politician Victorio Advincula. He has served the City Council for 42 years. Advincula’s son, Victorio Jr, is currently a third district councilor. He’s in the official lineup of the local political party, Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, led by Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Mayor Sara Duterte.
As of today, the city’s first district has 406,216 total registered voters, said lawyer Aimee Ferolino-Ampoloquio, Comelec Election Officer for District 1. The second district has 285,102 total registered voters, said lawyer John Paul Cubero, Comelec Election Officer for District 2. The third district has 245,133 total registered voters, said lawyer Monalisa Mamukid, Comelec Election Officer for District 3.
Davao City has a total of 182 barangays (villages) with an estimated population of 1.4 million.
The Comelec has suspended the voter’s registration until Friday by virtue of Comelec Resolution 9509. The last day of filing application is on October 31 by virtue of Comelec Resolution 9149. The latter covers registration, transfer of registration records, change/correction of entries in the registration records, reactivation of registration records and inclusion of registration records/reinstatement of name in the list of voters.
Meanwhile, the Comelec said it included “additional safeguards” in the new CoC.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, in a statement, said that among those introduced is the strict requirement for candidates to file their “full, true and itemized” Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (Soce).
In an interview by davaotoday.com, Comelec’s Mamukid said, “candidates are required to take oath” that they will file their Soce within 30 days after the election.
Jimenez said the safeguard “will help in leveling the playing field by promoting transparency in their election spending.”
The Comelec spokesman added, it’s required that the filing of Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance of the official candidates of the duly registered political party or coalition of political parties is simultaneous with the filing of COC, “to help minimize confusion as to the affiliations of the candidates.”
The CoC also requires that the name or words to appear on the ballot will not exceed 30 characters. “This was included to give candidates a certain degree of freedom in determining how their names will appear on the official ballot,” Jimenez said.
For the 2013 elections, Comelec says there are about 18,053 elective posts to be filled. On top of these are the 12 Senatorial posts, 233 District Representatives and 58 Party-list Representatives.
Down the provincial levels are the 80 Provincial Governors, 80 Provincial Vice Governors, 766 Members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, 143 City Mayors, 143 City Vice Mayors, 1,598 Members of Sangguniang Panlungsod, 1,491 Municipal Mayors, 1,491 Municipal Vice Mayors, 11,932 Members of Sangguniang Bayan, 1 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARRM) Regional Governor, 1 ARMM Regional Vice Governor and 24 Regional ARMM Assemblymen. (Marilou Aguirre-Tuburan/davaotoday.com)
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