A total of 97 aspirants for president, 29 for vice president, and 176 for senators have filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) for the May 9, 2022 national elections but many of them, the nuisance once, will be delisted shortly.
The same applies to local candidates and 270 party-list groups that submitted Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance during the October 1 to 8 filing period.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez said the COCs will undergo strict scrutiny to determine the final list of candidates and do away with the nuisance ones.
Jimenez said there are different categories of nuisance bets. Some filed their COCs just to make fun of the system, while some do so to create confusion because they have the same names as the more known candidates.
He said they expect to finalize the list of official candidates by the end of the year. “After that, we will see. We will also accept complaints against those who filed. There is such a motion that can be made in the Comelec,” he added.
Comelec data show that applicants for local posts reached 733 for Congress, 281 for governor, 226 for vice governor, 1,951 for Sangguniang Panlalawigan, 4,486 for mayor, 3,968 for vice mayor, and 35,636 for Sangguniang Panlungsod/Bayan.
Political parties have until November 15 to replace candidates but only party members will be allowed as substitutes.