The Commission on Elections (Comelec) ‘has tentatively listed 11 presidential aspirants in the May 2022 polls.
The aspirants that made it to the Comelec list include Abella, Ernie; Arcega, Gerald; De Guzman, Leody; Domagoso, Isko Moreno; Gonzales, Norberto; Lacson, Ping; Mangondato, Faisal; Marcos, Bongbong; Montemayor, Jose Jr.; Pacquiao, Manny Pacman and Robredo, Leni.
Also listed are nine vice presidential aspirants including Atienza, Lito; Bello, Walden; David, Rizalito; Duterte, Sara; Lopez, Manny SD; Ong, Doc Willie; Pangilinan, Kiko; Serapio, Carlos and Sotto, Vicente.
The Comelec has likewise listed 64 tentative senatorial bets. It has yet to come up with the final list of national and local candidates including party-list groups since there are still pending cases as to their respective candidacies.
Based on the updated list of candidates, only former senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) is now the only presidential aspirant surnamed Marcos, after the poll body eliminated Maria Aurora Marcos, a businesswoman from Tarlac, and Tiburcio Marcos from the list.
The list started with 97 presidential hopefuls and was trimmed to 15 before Christmas. Various groups, however, have filed seven petitions with the Comelec to block former Senator Bongbong Marcos’ presidential bid.
Of the seven cases, the poll body has already junked two. The Comelec earlier denied Tiburcio’s petition to cancel Bongbong’s candidacy, alleging that he is an impostor, and another petition by Danilo Lihaylihay which sought to declare Marcos as a nuisance candidate.