A POLL official reported a significant surge in aspirants filing for the certificate of candidacy (COC) during the initial three days at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Magsaysay Park, Magsaysay Avenue, Davao City.
Comelec-Davao Assistant Regional Director Atty. Gay Enumerables, during the ISpeak Media Forum at Davao City Hall on Thursday morning, August 31, 2023, said that they already recorded 1,942 punong barangay aspirants; 16,034 Barangay Kagawad aspirants; 1,661 aspirants for Sanguniang Kabataan (SK) chairman; and 8,389 for SK Kagawad for the whole region.
The filing of COCs began on August 28 and will continue until September 2, following the Comelec resolution dated May 3, 2023, titled "Revised Calendar of Activities and Periods of Certain Prohibited Acts in connection with the October 30, 2023, Synchronized Barangay Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE)."
Enumerables said that the agency’s schedule is very hectic due to the large number of applicants.
She said that every day feels like a registration day because of the massive flood of candidates, especially for Davao City, but the office is always ready to accept their COCs.
Comelec-Davao said during the three days of filing, the poll office and its vicinity were generally peaceful, attributed to the collaborative effort between the park management, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the election officers,
During the first day of filing, some candidates were complaining about the long queues.
The Comelec-Davao office urged all the aspirants to be more patient.
“Habaan ang pasensya kasi sila naglinya sila, kami din nagpo-process ng mga COCs nila,” Enumerables said.
(They need to be more patient. While they are queueing, we are also processing their COCs).
The office typically operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but with the massive inflow of candidates, they extended their working hours, even lasting to 2 a.m. just to cater to everyone.
On the notion of extending the filing of COCs, Enumerables emphasized that Davao City will not extend the deadline for the filing of COCs.
The filing of candidacy will last for six days, which will end on September 2. RGP