Comelec Narrows Down Presidential Bets To 11

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has trimmed down the list of presidential aspirants to 11, retained the nine vice presidential bets and whittled senatorial aspirants to 64 in another tentative list of candidates for national positions as published on its official website on Wednesday, Jan. 5, more than 120 days before the May elections.

In a five-page “certified list of candidates,” the Comelec identified the 11 presidential bets in alphabetical order, led by former Malacañang spokesman Ernesto Abella, Gerald Arcega, labor leader Leody de Guzman, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso, Norberto Gonzales, Sen. Ping Lacson and Faisal Mangondato.

Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is facing several petitions to disqualify him from the presidential race and to cancel his certificate of candidacy (COC) for failure to pay taxes, also made it to the poll body’s list along with Jose Montemayor Jr., Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Vice President Leni Robredo.

Removed from the presidential race were Hilario Andes, Danilo Lihaylihay, Maria Aurora Marcos and Edgar Niez.

The Comelec identified the nine vice presidential bets as Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, Walden Bello, Rizalito David, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, Emmanuel Sto. Domingo Lopez, Dr. Willie Ong, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Carlos Serapio and Sen. Vicente Sotto III.

The Comelec has also trimmed down the list of senatorial bets to 64 from 70.

The Comelec clarified that the tentative list of aspirants or candidates for the May 9, 2022 elections is based on the initial evaluation of their certificates of nomination, COCs and certificates of nomination and acceptance as it emphasized that the list is not yet final.

“Consequently, the contents of the list, particularly the names of the aspirants/candidates, political parties, as well as the name to appear on the ballot are subject to change as a result of any further evaluation and/or resolution of the Commission En Banc in relation thereto,” the Comelec said.

For party-list, the Comelec has listed 173 groups including those that have secured a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court, prohibiting the poll body from implementing their previous decisions that denied the application for registration of the concerned groups.

Two more party-list groups have been added in the tentative list: the Ang Programang Aasenso Taumbayan-Dream, Act, Participate and Advocates for Sustainable Transformation (Apat-Dapat) and the Ugyon Mangunguma, Mangingisda Kag Mamumugon nga Ilonggo (Uma Ilonggo).

Comelec’s record showed that 97 individuals filed their COCs for president during the eight-day filing of candidacy from Oct. 1-8, 2021 at a hotel in Pasay City while 29 filed their candidacy for vice president, 176 for senator and 270 for party-list.