Fast facts about the filing of COCS (part 1)

By James Jimenez

Less than 24 hours after you read this, the Commission on Elections will be throwing open its doors, nationwide, to receive the literal thousands who intend to run for elective office, in the 2025 National and Local Elections. In the coming elections (as in every other) no person can run for the position of Senator, Member of the House of Representatives or for any Provincial, City or Municipal position, or as a Member of the Parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) unless they accomplish and file a sworn Certificate of Candidacy (COC) in the form prescribed by the COMELEC, for the position they are gunning for. And on Tuesday, October 1, the period for filing these COCs begins. Let’s look at some fast facts about this landmark event in current Philippine politics:

Fast Fact #1: No person shall be eligible to run for more than one office to be filled in the same election. Under this rule, anyone who files a COC for more than one position shall not be eligible for any of them. However, a person who files multiple COCs may personally, or through an authorized representative, still file a sworn Statement of Cancellation to cancel the COCs for the other offices.

While I understand the justification for providing a mechanism to cure the defect, this does nothing to discourage the practice of filing multiple COCs. To my mind, the filing of COCs for various positions is an abusive practice that is, at best, a way of floating test-balloons to gauge the public’s reaction to a person’s candidacy. At worst, it can be used to mulct campaign funds from gullible supporters.

Fast Fact #2: Filing a COC results in any person holding a public appointive office or position, to be considered ipso facto resigned. The rule is different for persons holding an elective office which is the reason why elective officials – from Councilors to Senators – who run for higher office and lose, remain in their old positions until the end of their respective terms.

Fast Fact #3: Each COC contains 26 declarations of fact: the office for which the person is running; the aspirant’s name, age on election day, sex, civil status (and if married, the name of the aspirant’s spouse), place and date of birth, and the aspirant’s citizenship, specifying whether natural-born of naturalized.

The COC must also contain the name of the duly registered political party or coalition to which the aspirant belongs, unless they are running independent.

The aspirant must also provide a complete address for election purposes, together with an active e-mail address, as well as his residence giving the exact address and the number of years he has been residing in the Philippines and, in the case of local elections, the number of years of residence in the place where the aspirant intends to be elected, up to the day before the election.

The barangay, city, municipality and province where the aspirant is a registered voter or will be a registered voter must also be specified, just like the aspirant’s profession, occupation, or employment.

After all of that, the aspirant must – also on the COC – declare that he is eligible for the office for which he is filing the COC; that he is not a permanent resident or an immigrant to a foreign country; and that, in the case of dual citizens, he has executed a sworn renunciation of foreign citizenship.

The aspirant guarantees that he will file, with the COMELEC, within 30 days after Election Day, a full, true and itemized Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) in connection with the election and that he will abide by the rules and regulations of the COMELEC, including its code of conduct on social media.

What follows are the declarations that, unfortunately, seem to always be broken by many once they are in office. First, the aspirant must also renounce violence or unlawful means to achieve one’s goals, and declare that he will support, defend, and maintain true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. Then, the aspirant declares that he will obey the laws, legal orders, decrees, resolutions, rules and regulations promulgated and issued by the duly constituted authorities. The aspirant must also state that he assumes all of these obligations voluntarily without mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

The COC is then rounded up with the aspirant giving consent to the Commission to collect, disclose or share, and process the personal data provided for election and other lawful purposes in accordance with our privacy laws; declaring that the facts stated in the certificate are true and correct to the best of his knowledge; and whether he has been found liable for an offense or offenses which carry with it the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification to hold public office, which has become final and executory.

Fast Fact #4: Any COC filed with the incorrect office shall be deemed “not filed,” and will therefore be ineffective. Only COCs filed by the aspirant personally or through an authorized representative, with a sworn and signed Authority, will have any legal effect.

Fast Fact #5: The filing of COCs will be taking simultaneously all over the country, at the following locations, corresponding to the elective positions being aspired to:

Senatorial and Party-List Representative candidates need to file their COCs with the COMELEC Law Department or in any other venue designated by the Commission en banc. For the coming filing – this venue is going to be the Tent at the Manila Hotel.

For persons aspiring to become Members of the House of Representatives, representing legislative districts in the NCR, their COCs need to be filed with the NCR Regional Director’s Office.

For those running in legislative districts outside of NCR, they have to file their COCs with the office of the appropriate Provincial Election Supervisor. And for Members of the House of Representatives, for legislative districts in cities outside the NCR, which comprise one or more legislative districts, their COCs need to be filed with the Office of the Election Officer, specially designated to accept COCs.

Those running for Governor, Vice-Governor, and Member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan need to file their COCs with the appropriate office of the Provincial Supervisor.

Locally, candidates for Mayor and Vice-Mayor in cities with more than one Election Officer need to file their COCs with the specially designated Election Officer; whereas those running for Sangguniang Panlalawigan in these cities need to see their respective district Election Officers.

Aspirants for Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and Sangguniang Panglungsod members running in single district cities, file with their City Election Officer; whereas those running in the Municipalities, file with their Municipal Election Officer.

And finally, those running for District Representative in the BARMM Parliament need to file with the Bangsamoro Election Office (BEO), through the Office of the Provincial Supervisor.