DAGUPAN CITY—Re-electionist Pangasinan Rep. Jesus Celeste was the first candidate in the province to file his certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) provincial office here on Monday.
Celeste, who is running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) in the province’s first district, filed his COC at 8 a.m., right after the Comelec office here opened.
“I’ve been doing this in the past,” said Celeste, who was at the Comelec office at 7:45 a.m.
Half an hour later, Rosary Gracia “Chinky” Perez, former Philippine Councilors League (PCL) provincial federation president, filed her COC for one of two seats in the provincial board allotted for the province’s fifth district.
Perez, a former councilor of Urdaneta City, is running under the NPC.
Marino Salas, Comelec provincial election supervisor, said he did not expect a surge of candidates filing their COCs on Monday.
“Some candidates look at the number in the calendar and they file, depending on the date they consider lucky,” Salas said.
In Central Luzon, among the early birds were independent candidate Jose Quiwa III, who is running for representative of Pampanga’s third congressional district, and former Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, who is running for governor of Nueva Ecija.
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