THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that they will release a resolution regarding the withdrawal of St. Timothy Construction Corporation (STCC) from the Miru Joint Venture, on Friday.
At The Manila Hotel Tent City, Comelec announced that the “remaining partners must be able to show that they possess the financial eligibility and capability required by the FASTrAC Project.”
According to the resolution, the remaining partners must submit an NFCC computation based on one of the remaining partners’ financial capabilities. The NFCC must be at least equivalent to P17,988,878,226.55.
“We will proceed with the project, because under the contract it says “joint in solidary liability.” Ang ibig sabihin po nito, in the absence or incase of failure of one of the partners, the remaining partners will be held liable,” said Comelec chairman George Garcia.
STCC, a Miru Joint Venture company, was expected to be the country’s election technology provider. However, following allegations that one of its owners might run in the 2025 elections, it withdrew.
Alice Guo case
Aside from the Miru incident, the Comelec chairman discussed the case of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo who reportedly plans to file her certificate of candidacy (COC) next week, as per her legal council.
“Katulad din po ng naging sagot namin consistently, Comelec will accept the certificate of candidacy of Alice Guo,” confirmed Garcia.
“We will accept the certificate of candidacy of anybody in a similar situation. We will accept the COC of those who, perhaps, everybody might perceive as a nuisance candidate. We will accept all of them.”
However, Garcia highlighted that there are three grounds why a candidate’s name may not be put on the ballot. First, if he or she is proven to be a nuisance candidate, also known as “panggulo” in Filipino.
Second, if a petition to cancel his or her candidacy is filed or denied due to the candidate’s contradictory age, citizenship, residency, voter registration, and literacy.
Finally, if the Office of the Ombudsman makes the judgment to perpetually disqualify a candidate. According to Chairman Garcia, this is the heaviest of the three grounds.
Afternoon filing
With only a few minutes left in the fourth day of COC filing for the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE), Leody “Ka Leody” de Guzman and Luke Espiritu were able to submit theirs.
After a packed morning that went to a potentially slow rainy afternoon with fewer applicants filing, Ka Leody and Espiritu were able to beat the buzzer at The Manila Hotel Tent City on Friday.
According to Garcia, the filing of COCs is relatively few as of today. There are a total of 58 aspiring senators, 50 for the party-lists throughout the four days of filing. For today, only 19 senatorial aspirants and 15 party-lists were able to file.
“Hanggang sa araw na ‘to, medyo matumal pa rin kung tutuusin [ang filing]. Sapagkat mayroon tayong 160 na party-lists na inaasahan na magfa-file ng kanilang certificates of nomination and acceptance,” Garcia shared.
“Doon naman sa senador, more or less ‘yung 58 na ‘yan medyo madami-dami na rin ‘yan. Subalit base sa kasaysayan natin sa filing ng candidacy, mahigit isang daan ang nagfa-file ng candidacy para sa senado.”
Meanwhile in the morning session, Makabayan coalition bannered the morning aspirants, along with the current administration’s bets Camille Villar and Abby Binay, who filed for senatorial race.
