DAVAO CITY – The Commission on Elections-Davao region is preparing for the start of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy for the May 2025 national and local elections from October 1 to 8.

THE Comelec main office in Manila.
Speaking during Wednesday's Media Forum at the Habi at Kape, lawyer Gay Enumerables, Comelec-Davao assistant regional director, said that election officers are anticipating an influx of aspirants and their supporters during the filing of COC and have already coordinated with the security cluster to secure the venues.
The election period for national and local positions will start on February 11 and March 28, respectively, she said.
She added that some towns requested the Comelec-Davao for bigger venues in anticipation of larger crowds, which will be secured by police and military personnel.
“Every filing of COCs parang fiesta talaga 'yan, so nag-ready na ang mga election officers natin (Every filing of COCs is really like a fiesta, so our election officers are preparing),” she added.
She said that they have not recorded any election-related violence in the region although they have yet to meet the security sector to discuss potential areas that may be put under the list of “areas of concern” during elections.
For Davao City, applicants for the positions of mayor, vice mayor, and House of Representatives will be received at the Comelec-Davao third district office while applicants gunning for seats in city council of Davao will file at their respective Comlelec-Davao district offices in Magsaysay Park.
Meanwhile, Enumerables said as September 21, they have recorded a total of 374,160 processed applications for registration, transfer, reactivation, and correction since February 12. Out of this total, over 150,000 were registrations.
She said registration deadline would be on September 30.
Enumerables said that election officers were very aggressive in conducting satellite registrations in barangays across Davao region, particularly in far-flung areas, which helped reduce the crowd at the district offices of Comelec.
Enumerables said that through satellite registrations, they have covered all barangays in the region, reaching even the Lumad communities.
She said that they did not encounter major problems during satellite registrations, except for power outages.