MANILA- Aspirants for the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections began filing their certificates of candidacy at the start of the election period on Saturday.

• Gun ban, checkpoints herald start of barangay, SK elections period

Long lines were seen at Commission on Elections across the country as early as dawn. At the Arroceros filing office in Manila, irate aspirants expressed frustration over the queues.

TINGNAN: Tanggapan ng Comelec sa Maynila, dinagsa sa unang araw ng paghahain ng COC ng mga kakandidato sa barangay at SK #Halalan2018 | via @zhandercayabyab pic.twitter.com/fK5PCHS9R6

— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) April 14, 2018

"Sa pila naman, wala namang dayaan sa pila. May dayaan sa eleksyon, pero sa pila wala!" said Isagani Garlan, an aspiring barangay councilor.

(There should be no cheating in the lines. There is cheating in the elections but not in the lines!)

"Nakita-kita ko yung mga nandoon na hindi nakapila, nabigyan ng number, samantalang kami walang number? Tama ba yan? Pumila kami, sumunod kami sa patakaran. Bakit ganun? Unfair!" said Tess Aquino, who also wants to run for barangay councilor.

(Those who were not in line were given numbers but we were not. Is that right? We queued and followed instructions. Why is it like that? Unfair!)

All aspiring candidates in the city of Manila have to file their COCs at the Arroceros office since it is the only Comelec branch that accommodates barangay and SK candidates in the capital.

Police were deployed to ensure that the queues run smoothly.

TINGNAN: Lion’s Road patungo sa Comelec Office sa Maynila, hinarangan ng mga pulis para makontrol ang dami ng tao; unang araw ng paghahain ng COC, dinagsa @DZMMTeleRadyo pic.twitter.com/doYNtfVdt1

— Zhander Cayabyab (@zhandercayabyab) April 14, 2018

In Cagayan de Oro, 71-year-old Victor Neri avoided the rush by falling in line as early as 4 a.m. to file his candidacy for councilor in F.S. Catanico.

Aspirants can file their COCs until April 20 while the campaign period will be from May 4 to 12.

• Barangay, SK polls to push through on May 14

-reports from Cris Angelo Andrade, Zhander Cayabyab, and Jude Torres, ABS-CBN News