By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA, Oct 14 (PNA) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that it is unlikely to extend the last day of filing of Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for national and local positions in the May 2016 polls.
“At this point we don’t see any reason why we have to extend the filing,” said Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista in a press briefing.
With this, he noted that they would still assist aspirants who were already inside the Comelec premises even beyond the 5 p.m. closing time.
“We would still accommodate them provided that they are already in the premises,” Bautista said.
The Comelec main office in Manila is accepting CoC from those who are seeking national positions such as president, vice-president and senator, during office hours or from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The five-day filing period started last Monday, Oct. 12 and will end on Friday, Oct. 16.
But, Bautista added that they were still open in the possibility of extending the filing hours depending on the situation.
Based on Comelec data, a total of 57 individuals are vying for presidential position, 11 people for vice-presidential seat and 53 aspirants would like to join the battle for the top 12 senatorial posts since the start of the filing last Monday.
On Wednesday, a total of 20 people filed their CoCs for the presidential seat, four others are looking to run for the vice-presidential post and 28 wants to run in the senatorial positions. (PNA)