Candidates for elective positions all over the country are expected to start trooping to the Commission on Elections starting on Oct. 1st, Tuesday to file their Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for the May 2025 elections.
Positions that are to be filled are for 12 Senators, 254 Congressional District Representatives (three in Negros Oriental), 63 Party-List organizations;
82 Governors, 82 Vice-Governors, 800 members of the Provincial Council (three to four names from each Congressional District in Negros Oriental);
149 City Mayors, 1,493 Municipal Mayors, 149 City Vice-Mayors, 1,493 Municipal Vice-Mayors, 1,682 members of City Councils (10 councilors in each city), 11,948 members of Municipal Councils;
25 Members of Parliament in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and 40 BARMM Party-List representatives.
The Comelec said that candidates should file their Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination (CAN) along with the CoC.
Candidates for congressman must file their CoCs at the Office of the Regional Election Director, the Office of Performance Evaluation System (OPES), or Other Executive Offices (OEO).
Under Comelec Res. No. 11045, no person shall be elected senator, member of the House of Representatives, regional positions in the BARMM, provincial/city/municipal official unless he files a CoC in the form prescribed by the Commission, and within the designated period of filing.
Comelec said that incorrectly-filed CoCs shall be deemed “not filed”.
The Commission has also disallowed the “substitution” of candidates after the last day of the filing of CoCs on Oct. 8, if the ground is “withdrawal of candidacy”.
Substitution is only allowed when the reason is “death” or “disqualification of candidate”.
Also, the substitute candidate and the one being replaced must have the same surname (whether or not they are related by blood), and belong to the same political party.
Candidates who have been disqualified to run have until midday of election day on May 12, 2025 to field a substitute. The political party can field a substitute for a candidate who just died, the Comelec said. (AP)
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Photo Caption: Election Commissioner George Garcia (rightmost) tells PNA’s Judy Flores-Partlow and MetroPost’s Alex Pal that the Comelec is still studying the situation in Negros Oriental to see if it will be placed under Comelec control during the May 2025 polls. Both veteran journalists are attending the National Media Summit in Tagaytay, organized by the Presidential Communications Office. (Contributed photo)
