VICE President Leni Robredo and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. led the 10 presidential candidates announced by the Commission on Elections yesterday while nine will slug it out for the post of vice president.
Also making it the final list of candidates for the presidency were Manila Mayor Isko Moreno (Aksyon Demokratiko), Senators Ping Lacson (Partido Para sa Demokratikong Reporma) and Manny Pacquiao (Abag Promdi), Ernie Abella (Independent), Leody de Guzman (Partido Lakas ng Masa), Norberto Gonzales (Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas), Faisal Mangondato (Katipunan ng Kamalayang Kayumanggi), and Jose Montemayor (Democratic Party of the Philippines).
Robredo is running as an independent while Marcos is the standard-bearer of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the names of the 10 presidential bets and nine candidates for the presidency will appear in the official ballots, whose printing starts today, Wednesday.
Vying for the vice presidency are Lito Atienza (Abag Promdi), Walden Bello (Partido Lakas ng Masa), Rizalito David (Democratic Party of the Philippines), Sara Duterte (Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats), Manny Lopez (Workers and Peasants Party), Willie Ong (Aksyon Demokratiko), Kiko Pangilinan (Liberal Party), Carlos Serapio (Katipunan ng Kamalayang Kayumanggi), and Tito Sotto (Nationalist Peoples Coalition).
Jimenez said 64 will vie for the senate race.
He said all the candidates in the final list were able to meet the criteria set by the poll body.
“The people left in the ballot cannot be considered nuisance as they have legitimate intentions to run for public office,” he said, adding being popular is not a qualification to be considered as a candidate.
“It is not to be equated to popularity. It is to not be equated to premature campaigning,” Jimenez said.
Less than four months before Election Day, the National Printing Office will start printing today over 67 million official ballots to be used in the May 2022 polls.
In a virtual walk through of the NPO ballot printing process, the Comelec said everything is set for the printing of 67,442,714 ballots.
“This walkthrough will hopefully assure the public that this is being done on time. We are hoping that with the timeline we have, we will be able to finish the printing process on time,” said Comelec-Printing Committee Vice Chair Helen Flores, adding the poll body hopes to finish ballot printing as early as the first week of April.
“We are realistic in anticipating contingencies, including the COVID-19 surge and infection of our workers. We are looking at April 21, including the 2 to 3 weeks buffer period,” she said, adding four NPO printers can print 1.1 million ballots daily.
Included in the ballot printing are 1,697,202 ballots for overseas voting and 65,745,512 ballots for local voting.
Flores said they will start printing the manual ballots to be used by a segment of overseas voters as well as those for the local absentee voting, while those for the National Capital Region will be printed last.
She said the ballots will have security features such as QR codes, security and timing marks, and invisible UV markings.
“These security features will ensure that only legitimate ballots are to be used on Election Day,” said Flores.
Jimenez said participation in the planned electoral debates will not be mandatory, but he expects all candidates to participate.
“Under the law, participation in the debate is not mandatory. We have no choice. We cannot force them to join the debates,” said Jimenez.
“Historically speaking, when the debate is organized by the Comelec or if the Comelec has taken a lead role in organizing the debates, the candidates do come,” he added. “There is massive air-time. They do get massive coverage that they could not get otherwise without pay or possibly running afoul of the time limits for broadcast.”
The Comelec is planning to hold a series of presidential and vice-presidential debates during the campaign period. The planned debates will be spread throughout the campaign period, from February to April.
