MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes has announced that the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) will be from Oct. 1 to 5.
Speaking over radio dzRH, Brillantes said except for elected officials, those working in government shall be considered resigned once they file their COCs.
“These pertain to those in appointed government positions, policemen, soldiers, teachers and other state workers,” he said.
“We are rushing the review of party-list groups and nominees and by Sept. 30, we must come out with the lists.”
The Comelec is giving itself three months to entertain petitions for disqualification filed against prospective candidates.
Brillantes said the poll body has targeted December to finalize the list of qualified candidates and party-list groups.
“What we want to happen is that by January next year, the lists are already ‘clean’ and we are ready for the configuration of the ballots,” he said.
“We don’t want to start printing the ballot late, like what happened in the last elections.”
Brillantes said the Comelec is also preparing for elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
“Our workload is really heavy so we want to do things early,” he said. “We don’t want to rush things next year because it may lead to so many problems. We want the elections to go on smoothly and orderly.”
The ARMM elections were supposed to be held in August last year but were synchronized with the 2013 polls.
Brillantes wants Congress to postpone barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections next year.