ILOILO City – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) moved the period for the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) for next year’s midterm elections to Oct. 11-17.
The original schedule was Oct. 1-5.
Candidates must take note, however, that the duration of the filing period remains the same – five days, said Regional Director Dennis Ausan.
Oct. 13 (Saturday) and Oct. 14 (Sunday) should not be counted, he stressed.
Election offices across Western Visayas would be accepting COCs from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The COC filing period won’t be extended, said Ausan, so the candidates must strictly follow the schedule.
COCs may be downloaded from the Comelec website (www.comelec.gov.ph) or secured from election offices.
Ausan said the COCs must be filled out with the correct information.
The 2019 midterm elections are for the following positions: senator, congressman, governor, vice governor, provincial board member, mayor, vice mayor, and sangguniang bayan / panlungsod member.
According to Ausan, candidates with political parties must submit their COCs together with their parties’ Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA).
Those who fail to submit their CONAs would be deemed as independent candidates, said Ausan.
Regarding the voters’ registration, Comelec has yet to decide if an extension is needed.
“That is under consideration right now. The commission en banc will still have to decide on it,” said Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez in a statement.
Earlier, some members of the House of Representatives, particularly the Makabayan bloc, urged Comelec to extend the voters’ registration for the forthcoming elections until Jan. 13, 2019.
“The schedule of subsequent activities are currently being reviewed for possible adjustments should the need arise,” said Jimenez.
For now, Jimenez said, only the period for filing COCs has been reset.
Comelec moved the COC filing period to a later date at the request of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The voters’ registration period for next year’s polls began on July 2 and will end on September 29./PN
