BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The candidates of the Grupo Progreso led by Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia will be filing their certificates of candidacy (COC) today at the Commission on Elections-Bacolod Satellite Office after a mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral, former Bacolod councilor Roberto Rojas said yesterday.
Rojas said the group will announce their complete slate during a press conference today.
Yesterday, former Neg. Occ., 3rd District Rep. Albee Benitez filed his COC for mayor under Team Asenso Bacolod with former Bacolod councilor Caesar Distrito running for vice mayor and 12 others for councilors.
Walter Hermosura also filed his COC as an independent candidate for councilor yesterday.
Bacolod Election Officer Kathrina Caña recalled that last Friday, during the first day of filing of COC, a man who claimed that he is running for president asked for copies of the COC but did not file it. The filing of COC for national positions and for partylist groups should be done in Manila.
On Monday, Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya filed his COC together with lawyer Mark Steven Mayo.
Businessman Alan Arroyo was the first to file his COC as an independent councilor of Bacolod City Friday followed by lawyer Eduardo Padios who filed his COC Sunday as councilor under the Partido Pederal ng Maharlika.
A resident of Paglaum Village, Mansilingan, also asked for copies of the COC yesterday. He was reportedly planning to run for congressman of Bacolod City but was requested to return since his photo was not the required passport size.
Caña said he might have asked for a copy of the COC in behalf of another person.
She said a candidate can authorize somebody to file in his behalf as long as he has authorization from the aspirant.
They are encouraging the aspirants to file their COC’s early so if there are cases where there are corrections to be made or if there are any deficiencies in their documents, they can still rectify the error and produce the needed documents, if any, Caña said.
The last day for the filing of COC’s is on Friday.
Meanwhile, Caña said the Election Registration Board hearing for the third quarter is scheduled on October 18. So far, there is no postponement of the ERB hearing unless there is an order from the Comelec en banc to postpone it.
It is the ERB that approves or disapproves applications for registration and other voter-related applications with Comelec.
Caña, on the other hand, said that the tentative schedule for the Comelec satellite registration in Bacolod City is on October 11, 12, 13 and 14 at SM City-Bacolod and on October 18 at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central. Satellite registrations will also be conducted at Robinson’s Place Bacolod and at the University of St. La Salle gym on the last week of October.
However, if they had previously catered to 500 regular would-be applicants and 150 from the priority lane, with the extension of the registration that starts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they can only cater about 250-300 regular and 100 from the priority lane, she added.*
