[Rappler Investigates] The circus has arrived

It’s COC filing week — that’s certificate of candidacy for the uninitiated. This document signals a candidate’s intent to run for public office and declares his or her eligibility to seek a specific post. The document’s accuracy is sworn to by those who file it, and this includes name, citizenship, place and date of birth, among others. It’s supposed to be an authentic document that must not be trifled with.

I can guess what’s running in your head. How could Guo Hua Ping (aka Alice Guo) have run for mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, when she had to swear to the truthfulness of her COC that she filed in time for her 2022 candidacy? And what does the whole Guo sordid affair tell us about the Philippine electoral process?

Our House and Commission on Elections reporter Dwight de Leon wrote about the COC filing for this year and answered common questions that included this: “Can the Comelec stop another Alice Guo situation?” This clearly alludes to her false claims about her Filipino identity and citizenship. 

Unfortunately, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that the poll body’s role in accepting COCs is “purely ministerial.” He declared during Rappler’s Ask Your Comelec show: “We do not have the discretion to refuse, to analyze, to look at the person and ask them for some documents. Our role is merely to accept the certificate of candidacy.” 

This means that the Comelec cannot scrutinize documents nor demand for additional proof to establish the truthfulness of information stated in a filed COC. The poll body will need an enabling law or new legislation that will give it more teeth and more power that will allow it to be more than just a receptacle of COCs.

Still on the COCs — to be expected, many newsrooms are abuzz with physical and online activity as they watch out for who’s running for which post, and under which particular party. In an online chat channel we have, reporters noticed that quite a number of vloggers and influencers, including TikTok content creators, have filed their COCs, signaling intent to run. This phenomenon was not as pronounced as it was this year, although it’s been pointed out that social media influencer and blogger/vlogger Mocha Uson, who announced she will be running for councilor of Manila in the 2025 elections, had tried but failed in 2019 to win as Kasosyo party-list representative. 

Surely, you haven’t forgotten that back then, Mocha Uson already had as many as five million followers on Facebook, and was appointed by former president Rodrigo Duterte as assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office and then deputy administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. The irony wasn’t lost on many who had criticized her for spreading false and misleading information, even tagging journalists as “presstitutes.” Now Uson is running under Aksyon Demokratiko, along with Isko Moreno, who’s seeking Manila’s mayoral post after a failed 2022 presidential bid. Uson is also sharing the same party platform with Antonio Trillanes IV, who had filed criminal charges against her way back in 2017. The former senator is seeking the mayoral post in Caloocan. 

With the May 2025 midterm elections quickly approaching, those in the running, especially for the Senate, have likely been closely monitoring survey results of top polling firms Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia. Senior editor Gani de Castro takes a close look at the September surveys and explains why results are different for some and similar, if not the same, for others. Read more here to make better sense of the polling world. And here’s a previously published story by researcher, Patrick Cruz, to remind us about the state of our Senate: The Philippine Senate: From statesmen to showmen

If you want to read the latest news bits, commentaries, observations, and inside kuda, head over to the Rappler app and join the Philippine politics chat room. You’ll have to download the Rappler Communities app before you can join, however, so if you haven’t yet, go to the App Store and download.

Ahead of the elections, many already anticipate the use of artificial intelligence and deepfakes in a treacherous bid to influence voters’ preferences or decisions. Technology editor Gelo Gonzales points to some telltale signs of deepfake videos that you can watch out for so you’re not easily deceived.

As we enter Day 3 of the COC filing week, we expect to catch more photo ops and hear more noise. I, however, hope to see and to have more reason to be optimistic about the country’s political future.

BEYOND ALICE GUO. After the filing of COCs — even if Congress is on break — investigations into Guo Hua Ping at the House of Representatives are expected to resume by the third or fourth week of October. Bizarre revelations fit for a movie have kept newshounds glued to the hearings. Even citizens have made them part of their almost-daily viewing habit as new characters with Chinese-sounding names that link to each other continue to emerge. 

If you want to catch up with this continuing saga of Guo and the network of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), you can watch the latest episode of Newsbreak Chats later in the day. I’ll be hosting the chat and will be joined by reporters Lian Buan, Jairo Bolledo, John Sitchon (who’s based in Cebu), and Regions editor Herbie Gomez (who’s based in Cagayan de Oro).

Yes, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro — all the way from Porac, Pampanga and Bamban, Tarlac. That’s how extensive the POGO web is, and who knows what other provinces are part of this network. 

Where will all this lead to? Is there a point person/s who somehow connect/s the different nodes and act/s as common denominator? Let’s jointly follow the trail. If you have information to share, email me or send details to investigative@rappler.com.

Till Thursday after next! If you like what you’re reading on Rappler, help us continue doing these stories by supporting independent and quality journalism. Let us know, too, if there’s something we’re missing to write about. – Rappler.com

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