Scenes on the last day of COC filing for Eleksyon 2025

More than 100 hopefuls are expected to troop to the Manila Hotel Tent City on Tuesday for the last day of filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for Eleksyon 2025.

Inside the venue on Tuesday morning, the poll body’s mascot “ACM” stood ready to greet senatorial and party-list hopefuls who are vying for posts in the May 2025 midterm elections.

The Comelec earlier set up a pledge board and big screens for the filing.

Upon entering the establishment, aspirants will lodge their COCs and Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CONAs) at the Comelec's Law Department Offsite Working Area.

They may thereafter proceed to the other side of the venue where they can pose for a photo holding their COCs, and face the media to give a brief statement or interview.

They also have to sign the pledge board or the “Panata para sa Malinis, Marangal at may Dignidad na Kampanya sa Halalang 2025” before exiting the venue.

The filing of COCs started on October 1 and will end on October 8 at 5 p.m.

According to Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia, at least 23 party-lists and 135 senatoriables are expected to file their COCs on October 8. This is lower than the number of aspirants who filed their candidacies on the final day of the filing period in 2022, he said.

Aspirants vying for a total of 18,280 vacant posts are expected to troop to Comelec offices during the filing period to formalize their bids for Eleksyon 2025.

Meanwhile, outside the Manila Hotel Tent City, security was tight, according to a report by Bam Alegre on Unang Balita.

Four people were also seen calling for a boycott of Eleksyon 2025 over the poll body's P18 billion automated polls contract with Miru Systems.

Ronnie Amoroso, identifying as a retired OFW, and three others call out Comelec over its P18 billion automated polls contract with Miru for #Eleksyon2025

Amoroso: Nagsasayang kayo ng enerhiya, ng pera. Luto na ang eleksyon. Katarantaduhan ang ginagawa ng gobyernong ito @gmanews pic.twitter.com/8p39S3eZbj

— Llanesca T. Panti (@llanescajourno) October 8, 2024

The four protesters, led by a Ronnie Amoroso, said the conduct of the 2025 elections cannot be trusted because the results were already done just like what happened in the 2022 presidential elections when Comelec entered into an AES contract with Smartmatic.

In response, Garcia said that the Comelec-Miru deal is above board given that the Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order on the said deal.

"The Supreme Court said Comelec's steps after the bidding and award [of contract] should proceed. That is the operative fact doctrine. Minarapat po ng Kataas-taasang hukuman na huwag mag-issue ng restraining order upang pahintuin ang aming paghahanda," Garcia said.

(The Supreme Court decided not to issue a restraining order to stop our preparations.)

"Maganda po itanong sa kanila: Anong kumpanya po ang gusto nilang kakontrata ng Comelec?" Garcia added.

(Maybe we should ask them, which company should the Comelec sign a contract with?) —KG, GMA Integrated News