MANILA, Philippines – Not really a lot of people throw their hat into the ring on the first day of candidacy filing; many would rather wait it out and let their political opponents make the first move.
But there are a few who did submit their candidacy papers on day 1, in a deliberate effort to be among the first filers. The bragging rights went to AGRI Representative Wilbert Lee, who was already outside the filing venue at the Manila Hotel more than an hour before doors opened on Tuesday, October 1.
The party-list lawmaker, who is running on a platform of food security and access to health care, said he wouldn’t hesitate to “grab the microphone” again just to stop the termination of congressional budget deliberations, in reference to the scuffle he was involved in during last week’s House debates on the funding request of the Department of Health.
Lee, who has been identified in a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism as a top campaign spender on Facebook, also justified his expenditures.
“What we spend on social media is for awareness, so our countrymen would know where they can go to… for medical assistance,” Lee said.
There was not a lot of big names on the first day of certificate of candidacy filing at the national level, except for Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, who was the first politician from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s senatorial slate to submit his COC to the Comelec.
He shrugged off criticisms that the President’s senatorial lineup is composed of members of political dynasties.
“A dynastic slate is perhaps anathema to our democratic processes. People vote for them,” Tolentino said. “The Filipino people would decide. That’s the essence of democracy. I don’t see anything bad about said notion.”
Jose Montemayor, the defeated 2022 presidential aspirant who once spread vaccine-related misinformation, also filed his candidacy for senator.
Party-list comeback
Incumbent party-list groups also filed with the poll body the certificates of nomination and acceptance of their nominees, including ACT-CIS, COOP-NATCCO, Kabayan, Manila Teachers, and AGAP.
Next year’s vote is also a do-or-die moment for Buhay and Bayan Muna, two mainstays of the House since 2001 that suffered their first electoral defeat in 2022. A second loss in 2025 puts them at risk of getting delisted and removed from the ballots in 2028.
Taking part in the document filing for Bayan Muna were its former lawmakers who were again its nominees — Neri Colmenares, Carlos Zarate, and Ferdinand Gaite.
“The attacks by the Duterte administration against us were intense. Many were red-tagged, many were sued, many were subjected to extrajudicial killings,” Colmenares said of their loss. “Our strategy now is to double our strength, double our courage, and double our efforts in the campaign.”
After losing the vice presidential race in 2022, former congressman and ex-Manila mayor Lito Atienza is also seeking a political comeback as first nominee of pro-life group Buhay.
“Anything that is anti-life, I’m sorry, we may not agree, divorce is anti-life, but the worst anti-life measure that is already forming in Philippine Congress is abortion,” Atienza said, although no bill legalizing abortion has been filed in the 19th Congress.
Vote for vloggers?
Content creators with a sizable following online are also hoping to become lawmakers next year.
Eli San Fernando, the first nominee of Kamanggagawa, vowed to push for an increase in the minimum wage, and an end to the so-called provincial rate, or the varying cost of living from region to region in the country.
“Whenever we speak on Tiktok and other platforms on social media, we are bringing to the public the issues of the workers and of course, the Filipino masses,” said San Fernando, who has over 800,000 followers on Tiktok.
Marc Gamboa, the vlogger behind the Youtube channel Models of Manila TV, wants to prove that winning a Senate seat does not require a huge warchest or an established name.
“I want to give online sellers additional capital, additional support, additional capacity, and additional promotion,” Gamboa said. “I am a new face with a new style. We grew up on the age of social media.”
Norris John Okamoto, a Youtube vlogger with 300,000 subscribers, also seeks to become part of Congress as the nominee of party-list group Lingap “to fight for the poor man’s justice.”
Ordinary Filipinos
And then there were the ordinary Filipinos who don’t have the online clout either, but nonetheless dream of becoming legislators.
Norman Marquez, the man who beat the Comelec at the Supreme Court twice after it excluded him from the ballots in 2019 and 2022, hopes the poll body would no longer declare him a nuisance candidate.
“With the decision of the Supreme Court, hopefully, finally, an animal welfare advocate in the Senate is now possible,” Marquez said.
Security guard Phil Gamboa, who won over Filipinos online when he tried to run for senator in 2021, is still the same man three years later, pushing for better treatment of his fellow blue-collar workers.
“Last national election in 2022, we were declared a nuisance candidate, which was sad. Why are people like me who are hoping to serve the people are being disqualified?” Delos Reyes asked.
In total, 17 aspirants filed their candidacies for senator on Tuesday, while 15 party-list groups submitted their documents.
The Comelec said it did not get any report of untoward incident on the first day of COC filing. – Rappler.com
