QUEZON CITY (PIA) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, Sept. 30, shared the poll body’s preparations for the start of the election period leading up to the 2025 midterm polls, as it also gave reminders for the last day of voter registration as well as guidelines on the filing of certificates of candidacy, which starts October 1.
In an interview during the Sept. 30 episode of Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on PTV4, Comelec Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said that today is the absolute deadline for voter registration—for new applicants, transferees, and those applying for reactivation.
Voter registration ends at exactly 5 p.m. Monday, but all applications of those already queuing at the registration place before 5 p.m. will still be accommodated.
As of last week, the Comelec has accepted about 6.9 million voter applications, and it’s still counting until 5 p.m. of Sept. 30.
He said that the number of new voters has hit 3.4 million; over 400,000 of these have applied for reactivation.
Laudiangco said that the poll body’s target of 3 million new applicants has been breached with last week’s count of 6.9 million, including those applying for reactivation.
He noted that Comelec may allow a one-day extension in places where registration was halted on the last day due to unforeseen circumstances.
New rules
Meanwhile, Laudiangco said the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) and the Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CoNA) will start on October 1 and will end on Oct. 8 for those who are running for any of the different positions in the 2025 midterm polls.
He said that COCs filed in a different place and submitted to the wrong Comelec local office will be considered void.
Pressed on the new rule of late posting of the COCs and CoNA, Laudiangco said the COCs of all local and national candidates and certificates of nomination and certificates of acceptance of nomination of party lists will be posted only two weeks after the end of filing.
“The late posting is intended to allow the public to see what the candidates placed in their COCs. The public would know who that candidate is,” he said, adding that the Comelec will remove sensitive and personal information about each candidate in compliance with the Data Privacy Act.
The new rule on the issue of substitution, Laudiangco said, will be allowed provided it is done within the filing period from October 1 to 8.
Withdrawal will be allowed by October 9 onward, but no substitute candidate will be admitted.
Substitution after the filing period will only be allowed in 3 circumstances: death, incapacity, or if the poll body has disqualified the original candidate.
In such an instance, the substitute candidate must be from the political party of the original candidate, and both have the same surname.
He said one of the reasons for this new rule is for the Comelec to be able to finalize the list of candidates within October for the early printing of the ballots. (PIA -DMD)
