By Analou De Vera
The first day of filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) for this year's Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections was deemed peaceful, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
"While reports from the field are still incomplete as of this time, many offices are reporting that the filing process is proceeding in an orderly fashion. Constant monitoring by the Commission on Elections indicates that no significant disturbances or disruptions have occurred," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said.
According to Jimenez, more people filed their COC "than were expected for the first day of the filing period." Jimenez then reminded that the filing of COCs will run until April 20.
In their preliminary data, the Comelec spokesperson said "that there have been more filers for barangay positions than Sangguniang Kabataan," and that significant numbers of filers are senior citizens. Close to half of the filers are female individuals, Jimenez added.
"There have, as yet, been no reports of persons with disability filing COCs. It bears emphasizing that these observations are gleaned from only a very small sample of Comelec field offices," he said.
"Overall, it can be safely said the first day of the filing of COCs has gone off without a hitch and that the Comelec is confident that this trend will continue until the last day of filing, on the 20th of April," said Jimenez. said
Jimenez then also reminded individuals who are interested to file their candidacy, that the COC forms can be downloaded from the official Comelec website.