CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The first person to file his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president in the May elections died on the eve of Christmas last year while doing what had provided him livelihood for most of his life: washing jeepneys in this town.
The candidate was identified as Gregorio Samia, 63, a native of Sto. Tomas town in this province, who was the first on the record of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila to submit his COC for president at 8 a.m. last Nov. 24, the first day for the filing of COC’s for national level candidates.
Comelec records showed he wrote his alias as “Manok” and registered himself an independent candidate. He was the first to file his presidential COC, followed by 98 others.
Local journalist Bong Lacson, also a native of Sto. Tomas, wrote in his column in this paper yesterday that Samia’s filing of COC for president was “a first for my somnolent hometown of Sto. Tomas.”
He said that Samia was known in his town as “George Washing-jeep” for his livelihood preoccupation and that when he filed his presidential candidacy, one of his “platforms” was to raffle off Malacanang “and all the powers emanating therefrom among his supporters.”
But Samia, after filing his candidacy, was also quoted to have said: “Ang masakit sa ‘yo, ‘wag mong gawin sa kapwa mo. Madaling maging tao, mahirap magpakatao (What’s painful to you should not be done to others. It is easy to be a man, but difficult to be humane).”
“Unfortunately, Mister Washing-jeep will ever be the best president neither Sto. Tomas nor the country will ever have. He died on Christmas eve, after vomiting blood on the passenger jeepney he was washing,” Lacson wrote.
Reports published after he filed his candidacy quoted Samia as saying that he was called “manok” for his ability to mimick a cock’s crow.
He also said he decided to seek the highest post in the country after he was allegedly cheated in the last barangay elections in Sto. Tomas.
Samia was among the 91 presidential aspirants who candidacies were later nullified by the Comelec which retained the candidacies of only eight who filed their COC’s for president.
Initially, 99 people filed their candidacies for president, 20 for vice president and 158 for senator.
Comelec issued earlier rules for the disqualification of candidates in the May 10, 2010, elections and suspended the application of its existing Rules of Procedure that could jeopardize the speedy disposition of cases.
The rules, contained in Comelec en banc Resolution No. 8696, prescribe the procedure in filing petitions to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy, declare a candidate a “nuisance” bet, disqualify a candidate pursuant to Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code and disqualify a candidate for lack of qualifications or possessing some grounds for disqualification.
The candidate was identified as Gregorio Samia, 63, a native of Sto. Tomas town in this province, who was the first on the record of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila to submit his COC for president at 8 a.m. last Nov. 24, the first day for the filing of COC’s for national level candidates.
Comelec records showed he wrote his alias as “Manok” and registered himself an independent candidate. He was the first to file his presidential COC, followed by 98 others.
Local journalist Bong Lacson, also a native of Sto. Tomas, wrote in his column in this paper yesterday that Samia’s filing of COC for president was “a first for my somnolent hometown of Sto. Tomas.”
He said that Samia was known in his town as “George Washing-jeep” for his livelihood preoccupation and that when he filed his presidential candidacy, one of his “platforms” was to raffle off Malacanang “and all the powers emanating therefrom among his supporters.”
But Samia, after filing his candidacy, was also quoted to have said: “Ang masakit sa ‘yo, ‘wag mong gawin sa kapwa mo. Madaling maging tao, mahirap magpakatao (What’s painful to you should not be done to others. It is easy to be a man, but difficult to be humane).”
“Unfortunately, Mister Washing-jeep will ever be the best president neither Sto. Tomas nor the country will ever have. He died on Christmas eve, after vomiting blood on the passenger jeepney he was washing,” Lacson wrote.
Reports published after he filed his candidacy quoted Samia as saying that he was called “manok” for his ability to mimick a cock’s crow.
He also said he decided to seek the highest post in the country after he was allegedly cheated in the last barangay elections in Sto. Tomas.
Samia was among the 91 presidential aspirants who candidacies were later nullified by the Comelec which retained the candidacies of only eight who filed their COC’s for president.
Initially, 99 people filed their candidacies for president, 20 for vice president and 158 for senator.
Comelec issued earlier rules for the disqualification of candidates in the May 10, 2010, elections and suspended the application of its existing Rules of Procedure that could jeopardize the speedy disposition of cases.
The rules, contained in Comelec en banc Resolution No. 8696, prescribe the procedure in filing petitions to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy, declare a candidate a “nuisance” bet, disqualify a candidate pursuant to Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code and disqualify a candidate for lack of qualifications or possessing some grounds for disqualification.
