‘Robotron’ caps list of 2016 poll ‘superheroes’

You could say the candidates for President in the May 2016 elections were crawling out of the woodwork, as a total of 130 contenders filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the top post before the deadline lapsed on Friday.

Among the more colorful presidential candidates at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday were “superhero Kapitan Robotron,” a flight aviation engineer claiming ties to the Bin Laden family and predicting “the next Philippine President will be stupid” and a newspaper vendor who promised to make each Filipino a millionaire in five years.

In a yellow-and-black superhero costume, 19-year-old Earl Cristian Ansan, appeared at the Comelec office like he was attending an early Halloween party.

Ansan said he wanted to be alternatively known as “Kapitan Robotron” when he launches his presidential campaign to symbolize the heroism of Filipinos. “There is a hero in all of us, especially the overseas Filipino workers,” he said.

Despite his age, the superhero wannabe claimed he was not too young to make a change.

Stupid

It was not clear if presidential contender Isidro Ursua was referring to himself when he gave the fearless forecast that “the next President will be stupid.”

Ursua, who claimed to have worked as a flight aviation engineer for the slain terrorist Osama Bin Laden, also predicted that the entire human race will be wiped out in five years. He had previously predicted the coming of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), he added.

Levi Agustin, 64, similarly described himself a prophet, while 45-year-old Alberto Javier claimed he was chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and that his wife was former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Leonardo Dumlao, a retired accountant and a newspaper vendor, promised that under his administration, all Filipinos would become millionaires in five years’ time under a paluwagan (microcooperative) system he had devised.

Namesake

A namesake of Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar A. Roxas also filed his COC for President, with his middle name standing for “Antonio,” instead of “Araneta.”

The Comelec had been kept busy from Oct. 12 to 16, the period for the filing of COCs. A total of 130 people formally expressed their intent to run for President in the 2016 election, 19 for Vice President and 172 for senators.