MANILA, Philippines ? (UPDATE) Call us the "transformers," Senator Richard Gordon and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando said of their teamup in next year's polls.

Gordon announced Tuesday his intention to run for president under his party Bagumbayan-Volunteers for a New Philippines and introduced Fernando as his running mate.

They filed their certificates of candidacy on the same day at the Commission on Elections office in Manila.

"We can meet the challenges of the country," Gordon said in a news conference in the Senate before proceeding to the Comelec.

Gordon said both of them have been "natural executives" who have "transformed" their communities.

He was referring to their experience as local executives ? Gordon was mayor of Olongapo, Zambales, and eventually head of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, whiile Fernando was mayor of Marikina and later chairman of the MMDA.

Fernando said he and Gordon's team-up was a "fusion of two performers'' with the intent of ?transform(ing) the minds and hearts of our people to build character and community for a better Philippines.?

Gordon and Fernando were at the Senate along with their wives, Kate Gordon and Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando.

Fernando sought the support of his party, the Lakas-Lampi-CMD, for his presidential bid but lost to former defense chief Gilbert Teodoro.

Fernando was mum about his 2010 plans up until when he declared his vice presidential bid.

Gordon was the author of Republic Act 9369 or the poll automation law and was a staunch supporter of the 2010 computerized elections technology to limit if not prevent cheating and poll fraud, usually associated with manual balloting.

Gordon visited Comelec immediately after the poll body signed the P7.2 billion deal with Smartmatic-Total Information Management, which will provide 82,200 machines to automate the voting.