ILOILO City – A total of 3,576 certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the 2019 midterm elections have been filed in Western Visayas, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 6.
All these COCs will be subject to inspection and evaluation by the Comelec Law Department to determine who are qualified to seek elective positions, said Comelec regional director Atty. Dennis Ausan.
Comelec may release the final list of candidates in mid-December.
Most of the COCs filed during the filing period Oct. 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17 were in Iloilo city and province (1,181).
In Negros Occidental and the capital city of Bacolod, there were 794; Antique, 510; Capiz, 475; Aklan, 452; and Guimaras, 164.
Fifty-four aspiring candidates filed COCs for House representative, 19 for governor, 16 for vice governor, 142 for Sangguniang Panlalawigan member, 328 for mayor, 288 for vice mayor, and 2,729 for municipal/city councilor.
Among the qualifications that Comelec is looking into in the COCs are citizenship, residency and voter registration.
The candidate must be a Filipino citizen (except those seeking to run for senator; they should not only be Filipino citizens, they must also be natural-born Filipino citizens), a resident of the place where they intend to run for at least one year before election day, a registered voter of the place where they intend to run, and able to read and write.
Comelec will also check the age qualifications of the aspiring candidates.
Candidates for House representative must be at least 25 years old on election day, and for governor, vice governor and Sangguniang Panlalawigan member, at least 23 years old on election day.
Meanwhile, candidates for mayor, vice mayor and councilor in highly urbanized cities must be at least 23 years old on election day.
Those running for mayor and vice mayor in independent component cities, component cities or municipalities must be at least 21 years old on election day.
Lastly, those seeking positions in city and municipal councils must be at least 18 years old on election day./PN
