So far, 70 senatorial, 73 party-list aspirants

Seventy aspirants for senatorial posts and 73 organizations and political groups have so far officially registered to take part in the midterm elections next year, as the eight-day period for filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) and certificates of nomination and acceptance (CONA) reached its fifth day yesterday.

- MAYEN JAYMALIN

At a press conference yesterday, Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia said the 70 senatorial aspirants included Ben Tulfo who filed his COC yesterday. Eleven other aspiring senators filed their COCs yesterday.

Garcia said 23 party-list groups filed their CONAS yesterday, for a total of 73 filers since the start of the filing period last Oct. 1.

He said 160 groups and political parties accredited by the Comelec are expected to participate in the party-list polls.

The Comelec chairman reported that in the first two days of the filing period, they received 11,393 COCs from aspirants vying for the 18,280 national and local elective posts up for grabs in next year's elections.

In the remaining two days of the filing period, Garcia said they expect a surge of aspirants for elective posts filing their COCs.

"Actually, we're preparing a contingency for the last two days of the filing. It's always been in the last days of the filing of COCs that surge happens, so we're preparing for it," Garcia said.

He added that "big celebrities" aspiring for Senate seats are likely to be the late filers.

Garcia said they expect the filing of COCS and CONAS nationwide to be peaceful and orderly and see no need to declare areas of concern in any part of the country.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), he said, has determined that the recent killing of an Association of Barangay Captain (ABC) president in Bulacan was not election-related.