MANILA, Philippines – Two other political tandems have filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) on Thursday, October 15, making official their bid for the top elective posts in the 2016 elections.

From the Liberal Party (LP), standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and running mate Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo were the first to file on Thursday morning at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Intramuros, Manila.

The two arrived with their families past 9 am. They were also joined by President Benigno Aquino III and key party leaders and supporters.

“All in na po kami ni Leni sa aming pag-file ng COC. Ibibigay po namin ang lahat sa laban na ito. Ito ang laban na dapat lang ipaglaban, laban para sa ating mga kababayan, laban para sa lahat ng pamilyang Pilipino, at sa kaginhawaan na pinapangarap nila lahat,” Roxas said in a statement after he filed his COC.

(Leni and I are all in, in filing our COCs. We will give our all to this fight. This is a fight that has to be fought – a fight for our people, for every Filipino and the prosperity everyone dreams of.)

From the sea of yellow in the morning, the streets outside Comelec turned into red, blue, and white as the other tandem, independent candidates Grace Poe and Francis Escudero, arrived past 3 pm to file their COCs.

It was a star-studded afternoon, as actress Susan Roces came to support her daughter Poe, while actress Heart Evangelista came to support her husband Escudero. Hundreds also trooped to Comelec to show their support for the tandem.

“We know that we have enormous work ahead of us so we can’t be distracted by petty politics or the dirty tactics that others use against us,” Poe said in a statement.

The number of presidential and vice presidential candidates who filed on Thursday were pegged at 19 and 4, respectively. This brings the running tally since October 12 to 76 aspirants for president and 15 for vice president. 

More senatorial aspirants

There are now 83 who have filed for senator – 30 of them filed on Thursday alone. Four are candidates from the LP’s “Daang Matuwid” coalition: 

• DILG Assistant Secretary for Muslim Affairs and Special Concerns and former Maguindanao officer-in-charge Nariman Ambolodto
• COOP NATCCO Party List Representative Cresente Paez
• Senator Teofisto Guingona III 
• Outgoing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

One of De Lima’s critics, jueteng whistle-blower Sandra Cam, will also be running as senator under the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino party. In 2014, Cam criticized the justice secretary over the conduct of the investigation into the pork barrel scam.

Speaking of the pork barrel scam, lawyer Lorna Kapunan, whose most controversial client was pork barrel queen Janet Lim-Napoles, is also vying to be a senator in 2016. She said her party, Aksyon Demokratiko, will align with the Poe-Escudero tandem.

Meanwhile, Poe’s former political adviser and incumbent Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III is seeking reelection.

Losing 2013 senatorial candidate Teddy Casiño wants to return to Congress. He is a  party-list nominee of Bayan Muna, which he represented from 2004 to 2013. Among the other groups that want to join the party list are:

• Gabriela
• An Waray
• Diwa
• Abante Mindanao
• Sulong Katribu
• Migrante
• Ako Bicol
• ACT Teachers

A total of 62 party-list groups have filed certificates of nomination and acceptance for their nominees on Thursday. This brings to 127 the total number of groups seeking to join the party-list elections in 2016. – Rappler.com

Check out who are running for national and local positions: 
LIST: Aspirants for 2016 elections