COC filings: Lacson, Marcos make Palace run official

CLEANING UP THEIR ACT A worker sweeps the floor of the venue set up by the Comelec at Sofitel hotel in Pasay City for filing certificates of candidacy for the May 2022 polls, where politicians of every stripe have strode in and out since Oct. 1, with more expected till Friday. At right is the “integrity pledge” that is always worth remembering in times like these. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Weeks after declaring he would run for president next year, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson made his candidacy official on Wednesday at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. also filed his candidacy for the top post, having formalized speculation that he would seek the presidency only a day earlier.

The two men ran into each other at Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent, where national aspirants have to file their certificates of candidacy (COCs).

Lacson’s running mate, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, whom he acknowledged as the more popular between the two of them, also filed his COC.

“This early I’m congratulating him. I just asked him, ‘Don’t leave me behind,’” quipped Lacson, who, unlike Sotto, did not rank high in the latest Pulse Asia survey of potential presidential and vice presidential candidates.

DAY 6 Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III sign their names on the “integrity pledge” as they file their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for president and vice president, respectively, on Wednesday.—PHOTO BY GRIG C.MONTEGRANDE

Original plan

Marcos Jr., on the other hand, said he was unsure of having a running mate. He said he had planned to team up with President Duterte had the latter pushed through with his declared intention to run for vice president.

“The original plan was for us to adopt PRRD (the President) for our VP candidate, but after the events last Saturday, we have to change our plans,” said the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Asked if he would settle for Sen. Bong Go, who filed his own COC for vice president on Saturday in Mr. Duterte’s stead, Marcos Jr. replied: “How will that go? Bong-Bong, Bong to the third power. Maybe; we’ll see.”

His presumed negotiations with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte are mere speculation, he also said.

Fifteen persons filed their COCs for president on Wednesday, Day 6 of the filing period.

Among the latest presidential aspirants are former Arroyo national security adviser Norberto Gonzales and labor leader Leody de Guzman.

Their filing brought the total presidential aspirants so far to 41, including Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.

Only Sotto filed a COC for vice president, bringing the total vice presidential aspirants to nine.

Also filing his COC for president is former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who has yet to name his running mate. —PHOTO BY GRIG C.MONTEGRANDE

Other candidates

Reelectionist Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Joel Villanueva led the 18 individuals who filed their COCs for senator. There are now 63 senatorial aspirants.

They include Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, who resigned his post earlier in the day, former Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, former Makati Rep. Monsour del Rosario and labor leader Elmer Labog.

Fifty more party list groups submitted their list of nominees to the Comelec, bringing the total participating party list groups so far to 124.

Lacson and Sotto’s term of office as senators will end next year. Lacson has the option to seek a second six-year term because he was elected to a fresh term in 2016. But Sotto is on his last term because he has served two consecutive six-year terms since 2010.

Lacson, who is running under the Partido para sa Demokratikong Reporma, said he would wage an anticorruption campaign and advocate a “disciplined” bureaucracy and budget reforms.Sotto is running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition, and Marcos Jr. under the relatively unknown Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, of which he was sworn in as member and chair on Tuesday.

Not after rematch

Running for the post his father held for 21 years through martial law, Marcos Jr. said he was not seeking a “rematch” with Vice President Leni Robredo after his loss to her in the 2016 elections.

He lost his election protest against Robredo last February in a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

“I don’t have any fight with VP Leni. I am running for president. I am not fighting against anyone. Senator Ping (Lacson) is filing [his COC] as we speak. So it’s not going to be that kind of election. There are many of us,” he said.

Martial law legacy Marcos Jr. said he had not refused to answer questions about his father and mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, 92, who has been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan, and their legacy of martial law abuses and ill-gotten wealth.

“In my view those questions have all been answered, so we unify now in the face of the COVID crisis, in the face of the economic crisis,” he said.

But the martial law era remains controversial, with survivors of the dictatorship, rights advocates, and activists decrying continuing efforts at whitewashing the plunder of the national treasury and the torture and killing of dissenters.