On Friday, December 24, the Commission on Elections released a shorter tentative list of candidates for next year’s national and local elections. The updated list trims down the number of candidates for key positions in next year’s race.
The updated list now only lists 15 presidential candidates and nine vice presidential candidates. This is reduced from the list previously released last October, which had 97 candidates for president and 28 candidates for vice president.
Presidential candidates who have been removed from the list include Senator Ronald “Bato” deal Rosa and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go. The latter had previously withdrawn his bid for vice president as dela Rosa’s running mate on Nov. 13 to run for president instead.
Antonio Parlade Jr., the former spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), is also no longer on the list. Parlade had attempted to substitute for Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) presidential bet Antonio Valdes, who was running as an independent. Comelec rules prohibited Parlade’s substitution, stating that these could only be made with people from the same political party.
Presidential aspirants still on the list include Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso of Aksyon Demokratiko, former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, labor leader Leody de Guzman of the Partido Lakas ng Masa, Senator Panfilo Lacson of the Partido sa Demokratikong Reporma, former senator Fedinand “Bongbobg” Marcos Jr. of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, Senator Manny Pacquiao of Promdi and Vice President Leni Robredo who’s running as an independent.
For vice president, the list includes Rep. Lito Atienza of Promdi, former congressman Walden Bello of the Partido Lakas ng Masa, Dr. Willie Ong of Aksyon Demokratiko, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterta of Lakas-CMD, Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto of the nationalist People’s Coalition and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan of the Liberal Party.
The list of senatorial aspirants has also been trimmed down. There are now only 70 candidates running for a seat in the Senate, down from 174 in October.
Most notably, President Rodrigo Duterte is no longer listed as a senatorial candidate. The president withdrew his candidacy on the same day as Go. At the same time, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is now included.
In addition, the Comelec has also released a tentative list of candidates for local positions as well as candidates for the House of Representatives.
The Comelec was originally set to release its official list of candidates on Dec. 15. However, according to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, the release of the list was moved “as there are still a number of unresolved nuisance cases.”
Jimenez added that the electoral body expects the finalizing of the list of candidates to take at least two or three more weeks. DZUP
