THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will post in its official website the Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) of all individuals who will run in the May 2025 national and local polls, Elections chairman George Garcia said yesterday.
In an interview, Garcia said that the Commission en banc has approved “in principle” the proposal to post the COCs at https://comelec.gov.ph/.
“We have designated the Law Department and the Information Technology Department to draft the policies on how to implement this without violating the privacy of the candidates,” said Garcia, adding that making the documents available to the public is in accordance with the principle of transparency.
“This is so that people won’t be surprised that one is a candidate despite being a convicted individual, a fugitive, not a Filipino citizen, is under-aged. This is a way to give the people the right information they will need in choosing their leader,” he said.
Similarly, the poll chief said having making public such information will help in properly screening prospective candidates.
“If they believe that some are not qualified or eligible, they can question their eligibility.
But the public can only do that if they know who are running and their respective backgrounds,” said Garcia.
To note, no person shall be eligible to run for any elective public office unless he files a sworn COC.
The COC provides information on the candidate, including his/her name, nickname, public post he/she is running for, the political party to which he/she belongs, civil status, his/her date of birth, residence, his/her post office address for all election purposes, and his profession or occupation, among others.
The filing of COCs for the national and local polls is set from October 1 to 8, 2024.
Aside from the COCs, Garcia said he is also set to propose the online posting of the Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCEs) of all candidates.
He said such a policy is also in the spirit of transparency of the entire electoral process.
“The people should know who donated, how much were spent, where was it sourced from, who were the recipients, what were the expenses of the candidates… If we do this, we will have complete transparency when it comes to elections,” said Garcia.
Meanwhile, Garcia also said that candidates who will not be observing environment-friendly campaign activities in the forthcoming May 2025 national and local elections may run the risk of getting disqualified or charged with election offense cases.
Garcia said the Comelec is looking to impose penalties when they come out with the guidelines on how to have an environmentally friendly elections.
Garcia said the Comelec en banc has approved the creation of the Committee on Environmentally Sustainable Elections, which will be headed by Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr.
“He (Maceda) was tasked to draft the guidelines and policy direction on how we will be implementing this and have sustainable elections come the 2025 elections and beyond,” said Garcia.
“We must be able to have a policy direction on how we can protect the environment,” he said.
“We are looking at disqualification and election offense case for not adhering to the guidelines of the Comelec,” he added.
