De Lima, Ben Tulfo file COC for House, Senate seats

MANILA, Philippines — Senatorial aspirant and broadcaster Ben Tulfo and former senator. Leila de Lima who is now aiming for a seat in the House of Representatives were the most prominent individuals who filed their certificate of candidacy (COC) on Saturday for the 20256 midterm elections.

Another Senate hopeful, Rolando Plaza, who previously identified himself as  “half-human half-zombie” stole the spotlight when he lodged his COC at the Manila Hotel Tent City.

Plaza also filed his COC for senator in 2019 but was disqualified after being declared a nuisance candidate.

Tulfo was among the early COC filers on Saturday who announced that he is an independent candidate. He will join his brother Erwin, an incumbent ACT-CIS party-list representative, in the quest for the 12 Senate seats.

“We had a survey that says I am better off running as an independent, that’s data driven,” Ben said as he noted that several parties are inviting him to be in their slate.

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Should they emerge victorious, both Ben and Erwin will join their brother Raffy in the upper chamber.

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Ben, however, pushed back against the notion that they will become a political dynasty.

“Yes, we’re [a] dynasty in terms of helping people — in the media first,” Ben said.

“We broke the record…I’m sorry, modesty aside, we lorded over helping people,”  he also said. “Is that a dynasty? No, it’s not.”

De Lima, along with fellow nominees former Reps. Teddy Baguilat and Erin Tañada, filed the certificate of nomination and acceptance (Cona) of Mamamayang Liberal party-list.

Prior to the Cona lodging, De Lima, Baguilat and Tañada met their supporters outside the venue for a pray over.

There were calls for De Lima to return to the Senate after her release from what she deemed as trumped up drug charges, but she admitted that she has better chances to secure a House seat.

“My pragmatic side tells me that I might have a bit of a hard time in the Senate,” De Lima said, noting that the race for the upper chamber is already tight. 

De Lima was elected senator in 2016, but she was  imprisoned after eight months until her term lapsed in 2022. She was jailed for six years, eight months, and 21 days before being acquitted last June.

“This time I want to have a chance to be able to fully discharge the mandate that will be given, if and when we get fortunate,” she said.

Progressive Kabataan party-list also filed their Cona as their supporters, clad with black trash bags bearing words describing societal ills, staged a “fashion show” outside the venue.

“Rastaman”

The filing of the COCs and Conas went on as usual, until the arrival of a man popularly known as “Rastaman” broke the solemn atmosphere of the event.

Rolando Plaza, who bears face tattoos and a kerchief, strikes his signature “rock and roll” hand sign when he faced the media after filing his COC.

Plaza, who rambled on throughout the eight-minute media time allotted by the poll body, expressed his unsavory opinions on the Chinese people amid the proliferation of the Philippine offshore gaming operators or Pogo in the country—which he deemed as “trojan horses”—and the Chinese ships’ incursion in the West Philippine Sea.

He also said the country is now on the good track as it pivots back to the United States, which he deemed as the “universal protector of the world” but he also has a novel solution to  address Chinese “bullying.”

“We should use medallions so we won’t be bullied by our neighboring countries,” Plaza said in Filipino, referring to amulets locally known as “agimat” and “anting-anting.”

“Our neighboring country has one billion people, so we should use our medallions to protect our seas,” he added.