MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday reminded aspirants in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections that filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) is free of charge.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez issued the reminder after receiving complaints that potential village and youth leaders are being charged for filing their COCs or availing of notarial services.
“The Comelec is issuing this reminder to the public: The filing of COCs is free; filers should not — repeat, NOT — be charged any amount,” he said in a statement.
“The notarial service being rendered by Comelec field officials is likewise free of charge,” Jimenez added.
He called on the public to report incidents of extortion to the poll body, through numbers: (02) 527-0821 and (02) 525-9296.
Jimenez added that the public may file their incident reports through the Comelec’s social media accounts — @COMELEC on Twitter, and comelec.ph on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the poll body has recorded a total of 80,748 filers for the barangay and SK posts since the start of the filing period last Saturday.
As of April 15, a total of 60,992 COCs have been filed for the barangay elections — 8,202 and 52,790, for Barangay Chairman and Barangay Kagawad, respectively.
There were 19,756 COCs filed for the SK elections, 4,443 of which are for SK Chairman while 15,313 are for SK Kagawad.
The numbers came from the reports of 1,129 cities/municipalities nationwide.
The filing of the COCs will run until Friday, April 20.
COCs may be filed daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Office of the Election Officer in the city or municipality where the candidate lives. (PNA)
