ORDERLY FILING. Order is observed during the first day of filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) on Monday (Aug. 28, 2023) at the Comelec-Kidapawan City filing area inside the City Convention Center. For this year's Barangay Sangguniang Kabataan Election (BSKE), the local election office has developed a scheme to accommodate all aspirants in Kidapawan’s 40 villages to prevent overcrowding. (Photo courtesy of Comelec-Kidapawan)
KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato – To prevent overcrowding, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office here has scheduled in batches the ongoing aspirants' filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) in October.
Lawyer Noor Hafizullah Abdullah, city election officer, said Tuesday they segregated the 40 villages into eight groups scheduled on the first five days of COC filing starting Aug. 28 to Sept. 1, with the sixth day (Sept. 2) intended for reluctant candidates.
“The scheme intends to refrain candidates from overcrowding and to address unmanaged facilitation of documents,” Abdullah said, adding that the first day of COC filing Monday ran smoothly.
Each village is given 45 minutes of facilitation by Comelec personnel from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., he added.
On Monday, the first batch of villages to file their COCs were Amas, Amazion, Birada, Gayola, Balabag, Ginatilan, Ilomavis, and Indangan.
“Another eight villages are set today (Tuesday), including Balindog, Junction, Kalaisan, Kalasuyan, Binoligan, Katipunan, Linangkob, and Luvimin for the COC filing,” Abdullah said.
Based on Monday’s procedure, Abdullah said every applicant had fully completed the COC application process within four to five minutes, and that their office finished accommodating the aspirants as early as 4:15 p.m.
"The last day (Sept. 2) is intended for those who are still undecided to run on their scheduled dates of filing,” he said.
The Comelec-Kidapawan has set up the COC filing venue at the city convention center. (PNA)
