More than 386,000 individuals have already submitted their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the 2018 Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections as of 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 20.
In a report released to media on Satuday, the Comelec gave the exact figure of those who filed their COCs as 386,206 – which is more than 335,584 available SK seats.
This does not mean, however, they are automatically considered eligible to run. The Comelec has yet to screen all applications before announcing the official list of candidates.
On Friday, the National Youth Council (NYC) on Friday issued a resolution calling on the Comelec to extend the filing of COCs until Saturday, April 21, due to a possible low turnout of candidates.
In its resolution, the NYC cited official data from Comelec that there were only 181,296 COCs filed as of April 18, Wednesday, at 4:30 p.m.
The Comelec on Friday decided to extend the filing until Saturday, April 21, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the requests to the polling body to extend the filing were probably intended to be “preventive” measures.
“The request was made prior to this data being available,” Jimenez said. “Sabi nga nung NYC duon sa simulation kanina, nabahala ata sila when they saw a couple of places that had no SK filers. So I guess, preventive yung underlying concept nung request.”
Political analyst Professor Edmund Tayao explained that the timing of the COC filing may just be “bad,” or that some may be affected by the anti-dynasty provision under the SK Reform Act of 2015.
“One, the timing is bad. It’s finals week or final days of school so many are simply preoccupied,” Tayao told INQUIRER.net in a text message.
“Two, some may be inclined to wait for reforms to play in especially that the anti-dynasty provision is now being applied to barangay elections or that many are affected by the new rule,” the analyst said.
Under Section 10 of the SK Reform Act of 2015, SK officials must not be related “within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent elected national official or to any incumbent elected regional, provincial, city, municipal, or barangay official, in the locality where he or she seeks to be elected.” /atm