LATE FILER. Israel Virgines is the latest senatorial candidate approved by Comelec. Photo from Bangon Pilipinas website

MANILA, Philippines - Israel Virgines didn't make it to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office in Intramuros, Manila before the 5 p.m. cut-off on October 5 to file his candidacy for a Senate seat. He was caught in heavy traffic, he told the poll body.

Two months after the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy on Tuesday, December 4, the Comelec commissioners unanimously approved his senatorial bid, anyway.

Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr said Virgines is capable to wage a nationwide campaign.

Virgines's candidacy is backed by the Bangon Pilipinas Movement, which fielded its founder, preacher Eddie Villanueva, as presidential candidate in the 2004 and 2010 elections.

Virgines also ran for senator under the same party in the 2010 elections; he lost.

A preacher at the Seventh Day Adventist Church and professor at his church's university, he is now the 33rd candidate in the 2013 senatorial elections. Earlier approved by the poll body are the following:

AKBAYAN

• Hontiveros, Ana Theresia N.

ANG KAPATIRAN

• De Los Reyes, John Carlos G.
• Llasos, Marwil N.
• David, Rizalito Y.

LABAN NG DEMOKRATIKONG PILIPINO (LABAN)

• Angara, Juan Edgardo M.

LIBERAL PARTY

• Aquino, Paolo Benigno IV A.
• Madrigal, Maria Ana Consuelo A.
• Magsaysay, Ramon Jr., B.

MAKABAYAN

• Casiño, Teodoro A.

NACIONALISTA PARTY

• Cayetano, Alan Peter S.
• Trillanes, Antonio IV F.
• Villar, Cynthia A.

NATIONALIST PEOPLES COALITION

• Enrile, Juan Ponce Jr., C.
• Legarda, Lorna Regina B.

PDP- LABAN

• Pimentel, Aquilino Martin III D.

UNITED NATIONALIST ALLIANCE (UNA)

• Binay, Maria Lourdes Nancy S.
• Cojuangco, Margarita R.
• Ejercito, Joseph Victor G.
• Gordon, Richard J.
• Honasan, Gregorio B.
• Maceda, Ernesto M.
• Magsaysay, Maria Milagros Esperanza H.
• Zubiri, Juan Miguel F.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE PHIL.

• Belgica, Greco Antonious Beda
• Falcone, Baldohero
• Señeres, Christian

SOCIAL JUSTICE SOCIETY PARTY

• Alcantara, Samson

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES

• Escudero, Francis Joseph G.
• Llamanzares, Mary Grace P.
• Hagedorn, Edward S.
• Penson, Ricardo
• Montaño, Ramon E.

Before the Comelec trimmed the list down, there were 84 aspirants for Senate seats.

Virgines's candidacy was approved despite Brillantes's earlier announcement that there won't be additions to the list of 32 approved candidates. - Rappler.com