PILI, Camarines Sur, Philippines—Representative Diosdado Ignacio “Dato” Arroyo filed his certificate of candidacy at the provincial office of the Commission on Elections here at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, making him the first to file for the post of congressman in the five-district Camarines Sur province.

Arroyo, who represented the first district of Camarines Sur when he won the congressional race in 2007, now runs in the reapportioned district of the third district that includes the towns of Sipocot, Libmanan, Cabusao, Pasacao, Pamplona, San Fernando, Minalabac, Milaor and Gainza.

He was the third individual candidate to file at the Comelec provincial office as of Thursday morning, with two individuals running for vice governor and board member filing earlier before him.

Asked how he sees his candidacy at present compared to the 2007 elections, he said he was more confident now that he had delivered for his constituency projects that were needed in the communities.

Arroyo, now 35, was gifted with some P6-billion worth of projects during his 34th birthday by his mother, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which included the controversial P1.9-billion dam and irrigation project in the first district of Camarines Sur.