MANILA – Government officials will be considered resigned from their respective posts if they file certificates of candidacy (COCs) for next year’s mid-term elections, Malacañang said on Monday.
“Well, lahat po ng magsusumite ng kanilang kandidatura (everyone who will submit their candidacy) will be deemed resigned from their post,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
“So magkakaroon po ng mga (there will be) vacancies in the Cabinet,” he added, when asked if Cabinet reshuffle is forthcoming next month.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set October 1 to 5 as the filing of COCs for national and local polls.
Roque said no Cabinet or government officials yet have informed the Palace or President Rodrigo Duterte if they will run in the 2019 elections.
“Wala pa po akong nalalaman na siguradong maghahain ng kandidatura at wala pa po akong nalalaman na naiisip na ipalit dito sa mga ito (I don’t know yet who are sure of filing their candidacy and I also don’t have any idea who will replace them),” Roque said.
Several political parties have come out with their respective initial list of senatorial candidates including Roque and Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher "Bong" Go.
Both Roque and Go have been included in the initial list of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Other government officials in the list include former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Bureau of Corrections director general Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa and presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino.
Roque, Go and dela Rosa have also been named as the initial senatorial lineup of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) party.
HNP, a regional political party, has recently forged alliance with at least three national political parties and six local groupings.
These are the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Nacionalista Party (NP) and National Unity Party (NUP), and local groups Serbisyo sa Bayan Party (SBP) of Quezon City, Alyansa Bol-anon Alang sa Kausaban (ABAKA) of Bohol and Zamboanga del Norte’s Aggrupation of Party for Progress (APP).
When asked if he is already decided to run as senator, Roque said he will make his decision in 20 days.
“We will soon find out in 20 days or so,” Roque said.
Roque, an international law expert and former law professor of the University of the Philippines, was Kabayan party-list representative prior to his appointment as presidential spokesperson in October 2017. (PNA)
