Candidates vying for different elective positions in the May 2022 polls have until October 8 to file their Certificates of Candidacy. Based on the Comelec Calendar of Activities, the tentative list of candidates will be posted on October 29, for the aspirants to check their names as will appear in the official ballot.
Political parties have certainly taken note of all these important dates as they strategized ways to outwit each other.
The Comelec calendar also set November 15 as the last day for the substitute of an official candidate of a political party or coalition, who withdrew, died, or was disqualified by final judgment, to file his or her COC. The last day of publication of the Approved List of Nominees by the Comelec is on November 30.
We saw boxing icon and incumbent Senator Manny Pacquiao filing his COC for president on Friday, October 1. He was the first one to do so, days after declaring that he was finally bowing out of boxing.
The next day, Senator Lawrence Christopher Go filed his COC for vice president, apparently standing by his previous statements that he is not interested in joining the presidential race. Interestingly, he was accompanied by President Rodrigo Duterte, who earlier accepted the nomination of the PDP Laban-Cusi wing to be its candidate for vice president. Duterte told the media that he is retiring from politics.
The move pulled off by the president and his closest ally, Senator Go, hardly surprised those who, by now, are used to the antics of the head of the republic. He, who is prone to making motherhood statements, only for the Presidential Communications Office or his spokesperson to clarify and explain the next day, should not be taken too seriously. After all, it only confirmed what was in the minds of political observers, that his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will run for president with Go as her running mate.
But then, Inday Sara went on to file her re-election bid minutes before the Comelec office in Davao closed Oct. 2.
Are all these ploys to outwit the opposition? Will Duterte-Carpio eventually be a substitute candidate for president on or before November 15?
Indeed, next year’s election is shaping up to be our biggest source of entertainment. – NND
