Wannabe leaders: from serious to bizarre

The 11-day filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) for the 2010 polls drew more aspirants - from the serious to the bizarre - vying for national posts compared to the previous national elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday.

One presidential aspirant Rigoberto Madera Jr., for example, declared that if he gets lucky, he would move on to conquer the US, the United Nations, and eventually the world. Another presidential hopeful, 73-year-old Manny Lopez, meanwhile, said he's better than US President Barack Obama. Alicman Ali, a Maranao running for vice president, said he has the ability to stop the decades-old war in Mindanao. More established presidential candidates, meanwhile, resorted to gimmickry - from marathons to marching bands to rallies – to make the formalization of their bids noticeable. “Mas maraming nag-file ngayon dahil umaasa sila sa mas malinis at mas makatotohanang eleksyon, primarily dahil sa automated elections," lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan, head of the Comelec Law Department, said. (More people filed COCs this year because they are hoping for a clean and honest elections, primarily because of the automation.) More candidates this time The filing of COC at the Comelec main office, which ran from November 20 until midnight of December 1, drew 99 presidential hopefuls compared to 84 in 2004. Of the 84, only five were considered official candidates. On the other hand, there are 20 vice presidential candidates who filed their COCs this year, which is one candidate shy of the 21 in the previous national elections. Of the 21, only four were allowed to run during the election proper. For senatorial aspirants, a total of 158 filed for next year compared to only 88 in 2004. Of the 88, only 48 were declared official candidates. Rafanan also said the period for the filing of COCs was generally peaceful. “Napaka-peaceful except yung nangyari sa Maguindanao. Everything is transparent," he said, referring pertaining to the massacre in Ampatuan town that killed at least 57 people, including 30 journalists. Among the prominent presidential aspirants were Senators Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III, Manuel Villar, Jr., Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal, Richard Gordon, former President Joseph Estrada, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, and former Defense chief Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. On the other hand, the known filers for the vice presidential post include Senator Manuel “Mar" Roxas II, former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, and actor Edu Manzano. What’s next? Rafanan said they would now be encoding the COCs so that they would be able to extract some statistics for future reference. Those who oppose the candidacy of a person have five days from the last day of filing to file a verified position, Rafanan said, adding that the poll body would tackle the cases “motu propio" or on its own. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told GMANews.TV in a separate interview that during the last elections, the poll body held a hearing where they gave aspirants a chance to defend why they should not be regarded as nuisances candidates. According to Comelec Resolution No. 8678, a nuisance candidate is one who “put(s) the election process in mockery or disrepute," “cause(s) confusion among the voters by the similarity of names of registered candidates," or one who “has no bona fide intention to run for the office." Rafanan said it would be up to the commission to decide when to release the names of those deemed as nuisance candidates. He said the target date is by middle of December. “This will be a very busy Christmas for the Comelec," he said. He, however, clarified that the official list of candidates would be released on a later date, probably by the end of December. A total of 17, 888 government seats are up for grabs in the 2010 elections. There is one slot for president and vice president each; 12 for senators; 222 for Lower House representatives; 80 for governors and vice governors; 762 for provincial board members; 120 for city mayors and vice mayors; 1,514 for municipal mayors and vice mayors; 1,346 for city councilors; and 12,116 for municipal councilors. A total of 68,000 candidates ran in the May 2004 elections while some 46,000 aspirants filed their COCs in the 2007 local elections. - KBK, GMANews.TV