Nine aspiring lawmakers file COCs for NCR’s House seats
Commission on Elections. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Nine individuals gunning for congressional seats in Metro Manila for the 2025 elections filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) in the first four hours since the Commission on Elections (Comelec) accepted applications on Tuesday.
According to Comelec’s National Capital Region (NCR) office, the following individuals submitted their COCs to the regional office headquarters in Greenhills, San Juan:
- Luis Uy (Manila 6th District/ Aksyon Demokratiko)
- Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Mary Mitzi Cajayon Uy (reelection/ Lakas-CMD)
- Jose Jaime Enage (Marikina 2nd District/ independent)
- Carlo Vincent Lopez (Manila 2nd District/ Nacionalista Party)
- Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco (reelection/ Partido Navoteño)
- Johanna Maureen Nieto (Manila 3rd District/ Aksyon Demokratiko)
- Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan (Parañaque 2nd District/ independent)
- Bernard dela Cruz (Malabon/ PDP-Laban)
Three of the aspiring Manila lawmakers will be running against key House members.
Uy will be squaring off against House human rights panel and quad committee co-chairperson Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.
Lopez will be running against Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano, while Nieto will be facing House committee on good government and public accountability chair and Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua.
Article continues after this advertisementYamsuan, meanwhile, will be facing incumbent Parañaque 2nd District Rep. Gus Tambunting.
Article continues after this advertisementLawyer Jovencio Balanquit, assistant regional director of Comelec-NCR, said the filing of COCs for congressional seats in Metro Manila’s legislative districts has been smooth so far.
“There are 35 congressional districts here in NCR, so if there’s one candidate per district, that’s 35. But if there are two candidates, so that’s 70, but oftentimes there are three or four candidates. So we are expecting, if there are four, 35 times 4, that’s almost 200 or 300,” Balanquit said.
“This is historic, that’s why we have concerned offices that we included here, like traffic offices of Quezon City, San Juan, PNP (Philippine National Police), JTF-NCR (Joint Task Force – NCR), BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection), all, because we want to make sure that the filing of candidacies are in order,” he added.
