Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 29)— The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday released the tentative list of candidates in the 2022 elections.
Posted on the poll body’s website, the table shows 97 aspirants for president, 28 eyeing the vice presidency, and 174 seeking a Senate seat.
Comelec said the published list is based on the initial evaluation of the certificates of candidacy, certificates of nomination, and certificates of nomination and acceptance of the aspirants.
“The contents of the list, particularly the names of the aspirants/candidates, political parties, as well as the name to appear on the ballot are subject to change as a result of any further evaluation and/or resolution of the Commission En Banc,” it added.
Poll hopefuls have until November 8 to request for correction of any typographical errors in their listed names, spokesperson James Jimenez said on Twitter.
Notable changes
Former party-list representative Walden Bello is now included in the list after substituting for Raquel Castillo as the running mate of labor leader Leody de Guzman. The two will hold the banner for the Partido Lakas ng Masa.
Veteran broadcaster Noli De Castro was also struck off the list after withdrawing his candidacy earlier this month. He was replaced by Jopet Sison, who will be running under Aksyon Demokratiko.
Meanwhile, some aspirants who filed COCs as part of political parties were labeled as independent bets in Comelec’s new list.
Jimenez cited “varying reasons” for this development.
“Some turned out to be from [political] parties that did not submit a list of authorized signatories; in some cases, the signatories were not the authorized ones; and in other cases, we’ve seen CONAs from unaccredited political parties,” he said in a message to reporters.
Jimenez noted that 2022 bets for the House of Representatives for Metro Manila will be “uploaded in the next update.”
The full list of aspirants for national and local posts can be accessed here.
Comelec allows substitution due to withdrawal of bets until November 15. Under the poll body’s calendar, the final list of aspirants is expected by end-November.
CNN Philippines Correspondent Melissa Lopez contributed to this report.
