'Odd' bets make noise on first day of COC filing

They may not be household names as some said it was just their first time running for a national position; however, they clearly made a noise during the first day of the certificate of candidacy (COC) filing.

Janice Padilla, a licensed teacher and now a senatorial aspirant, bared her reason for gunning a Senate seat in the next year's midterm polls.

"My main point why I'm running for senator [is] just to serve God, people, community, and nation," Janice Padilla said during her speech.

It is Padilla's first time to run but when elected, she said she would immediately seek a wage hike for her fellow teachers.

"Maraming guro ang nahihirapan talaga sa learning materials nila, so kailangan mataas yung pasahod (Many teachers are really struggling with their learning materials, so the salary needs to be higher)," Padilla said.

"Lalo ngayon pataas nang pataas ang bilihin. So ano ang dapat gawin ng gobyerno? Dapat may automatic na batas, tumataas din ang sahod (Especially now that prices of goods are going up. So what should the government do? There should be an automatic law that says wages should also increase)," she added.

Daniel Magtira, who once claimed to be Kris Aquino's husband, but now hopes to marry Imee Marcos, made his presence felt as he serenaded members of the media.

Magtira was formerly declared a nuisance candidate by Comelec, but said he will seek to appeal his senatorial bid through the Integrated Bar of the Philippines if he gets disqualified anew.

Meanwhile, Phil Delos Reyes, a security guard from Bantayan Island in Cebu, argued he is just as qualified to run as senator as other bets.

"Kaya ko naman pong ikutin ang Luzon, Visayas, at Mindanao (I can also visit anywhere in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao)," Delos Reyes said in his speech.

"Huwag lang ho tayo magmamaliit ng kapwa dahil hindi niyo alam kung anong kayang gawin ng isang tao (Just don't belittle anyone because you don't know what they can do)," he added.

In 2021, he was also declared a nuisance candidate by the Comelec.

Vlogger Mark Gamboa, who has 100,000 followers on social media, said he is also running as a senator.

Gamboa said he will represent his fellow content creators as well as freelancers and live sellers.

A first-timer in national politics, Gamboa said he also seeks to fight fake news and aims to create a fake news monitoring office that will operate 24/7.

"Isa rin po ito sa nagiging problema natin sa social media (This is one of our problems in social media)," he added.