The Commission on Elections on September 30, 2024 inspect the venue in Manila for the filing of Certificates of Candidacy for aspiring senators and party-list representatives for the 2025 Midterm Elections beginning on October 1. The period of filing for local and national posts, including weekends, will span from tomorrow until October 8. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA (UPDATED) — Often characterized as a "political circus," the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) in the Philippines has traditionally served as a ceremonial opening of the election season that will only peak, sometimes violently, in the coming months until election day.

• 'File at correct office or void candidacy,' Comelec reminds aspirants on eve of filing

On Tuesday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will once again welcome political “aspirants” seeking to take the 18,280 elective positions up for grabs in the May 2025 national and local elections.

Number of elective positions to be voted for on the May 12, 2025 elections:

• Senators - 12

• Party-List Representatives - 63

• Member, House of Representatives - 254

• Governor - 82

• Vice Governor - 82

• Provincial board member - 800

• City Mayor - 149

• City Vice Mayor - 149

• City councilor - 1,690

• Municipal Mayor - 1,493

• Municipal Vice Mayor - 1,493

• Municipal councilor - 11,948

• BARMM Members of the Parliament - 25

• BARMM Party Representatives - 40

• TOTAL: 18,280

“All systems go ang Comelec sa unang araw ng filing ng certificate of candidacy,” Comelec chairman George Garcia told reporters Monday on the eve of the event, to be held at the historic Manila Hotel.

From Oct. 1 to 8 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Comelec will carry out its “ministerial duty” of accepting COCs and Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA), as long as they were properly filled out. The herculean task of filtering out "nuisance candidates" will come after.

Speaking on ANC on Tuesday, Garcia said that the poll body will publish all COCs filed across the country two weeks after the last day of candidacy filing. This is to seek the public's help to weed out bad faith actors trying to game the election.

"So that everybody will know who is their candidate, what is his qualification, whether he is qualified or not, is he really a citizen or not, is he of age, so that we will be able to file a petition before the Comelec to disqualify the candidate," he said.

"Para wala naman po 'yung nakaligtas, hindi nakita kung sino, walang nag-file, nanalo, ayun may issue pala. Para mapigilan na natin 'yung bagay na 'yon, until a law is enacted as our stop-gap measure in the meantime."

READ: Comelec finds basis to file complaint vs Alice Guo

As of September 30, 2024, the last day of voter registration, the Comelec accepted around 3.4 million new voters while around 5.37 million voters are set to be deactivated for failure to vote for two consecutive polls, Garcia said.

The commission projects nearly 70 million Filipinos are eligible to cast their votes for the 2025 midterm elections, he said.

For the 2022 national and local elections, which included positions of president and vice president, the Comelec accepted over 47,800 COCs and Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA).

COMELEC PODIUM

Victoriano Inte files his certificate of candidacy as president at the Comelec at the Harbor Garden tent of the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on October 02, 2021. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

In the 2021 COC and CONA filing, ordinary citizens begging to be heard took the Comelec podium to call attention to their plight. 

• Ordinary folk use Comelec podium to bare grievances vs 'system'

Driven by desperation, many "nuisance candidates" used their 8-minute speech to criticize the government, which they felt abandoned them during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For this year's candidacy filing, that same practice remains. 

"We intend to give them 10 minutes, 2 minutes of which for their introduction, the last 8 to respond to reporters' questions. The questions shall not form part of the 8 minutes," Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco told ABS-CBN News.

For decades now, the Comelec has repeatedly discouraged political aspirants, parties, and even the public from turning the COC filing event into a "fiesta-like" spectacle. 

• Max of 4 individuals to be allowed in COC filing area: Comelec

“Tutal pormal-pormalidad lang na tatanggapin ng Comelec ang inyong mga COCs. Sana naman po huwag nating masyadong gawing fiesta o masyadong nagugulo yung mga kababayan natin. Lalo na po at yung traffic ay maaring maistorbo, yung traffic ay makakaistorbo sa kanila,” Garcia said last month.

(Since this is just for formality, I hope we don't turn it into a fiesta that would inconvenience the public.)

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