The last day of the 11-day period for filing of certificates of candidacy (CoC) for national positions for the May 10, 2010 elections, started with a show of force early Tuesday morning by the Lakas-Kampi-CMD led by presidential and vice presidential tandem of former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and actor Edu Manzano and capped by the team-up of Sen. Richard Gordon for president and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando for vice president, a most surprising development rivaling that of the filing by President Arroyo of her CoC for Pampanga’s second congressional district.

Fernando, after his presidential bid was rejected by the Lakas-Kampi-CMD Executive Committee, had insisted that he would pursue his ambition as an independent and will not settle for any other position. So it came as a surprise when he and Gordon announced their team-up under Bagong Bayan Party, with Fernando sliding to vice president.

As early as the wee hours of the morning, hundreds of followers and supporters of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD tandem massed in front of the historic Manila Cathedral even before the arrival of Teodoro and Manzano.

The atmosphere at the vicinity of the Manila Cathedral and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) became delirious with the arrival of Manzano, followed a few minutes later bv Teodoro. After waving to their joyous followers and answering a few questions from the media, the tandem, followed closely by their supporters, entered the Manila Cathedral where a mass was held before filing their CoCs with the Comelec Law Department in the nearby Palacio del Gobernador.

A phalanx of uniformed law enforcers prevented the followers of Teodoro and Manzano from following them inside the Comelec building and kept the situation under control until the Lakas-Kampi-CMD tandem left.

The atmosphere was more subdued when Gordon and Fernando filed their CoCs. They were also escorted by their followers but they were clearly outnumbered compared to the supporters of Teodoro and Manzano.

Before Teodoro and Mazano filed their CoCs, Sen. Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal filed her CoC for president with no fanfare. She was only accompanied by her Senate staff.

“I do this not out of personal ambition but out of the dictates of conscience.

As history has proven again and again, the safe and easy way is not always the right way. I must do justice to the martyrdom of my grandfather, (former Supreme Court Chief Justice) Jose Abad Santos,’’ she said.

Madrigal, who is running without a vice president and a Senate slate, said she ran for the senator in 2004 not for selfish reasons but “because I wanted to prove that I could remain principled and untainted in the quagmire of traditional and patronage politics.’’

“While others voted out of convenience, I voted out of conviction,’’ she explained.

“Hindi ako kandidato ng mga malalaking negosyante o ng malalaking partido pulitikal. If elected, I shall favor only the Filipino people. To improve the people’s lives, we must invest in them directly and not through intermediaries.

Dapat bigyang puhunan ang bawat Pilipino,’’ she said.

Gordon’s filing of his CoC for president brought the number of aspirants for the highest post in the land to 61. It should have been 62 had not Mel Carreon, a war veteran, withdrew from the presidential race and instead slide down to vice president.

Fernando, as shown in the official list of the Comelec Law Department, is the 11th bet for the country’s second highest post. He will slug it out with 10 other candidates that include Makati City Mayor Jejomar C. Binay of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Sen. Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party (LP), Edu Manzano of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr. of Bangon Pilipinas. Legarda, however, is the running mate of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Manny Villar.

For the 12 Senate spots to be contested in the May 10, 2010 fully automated polls, a total of 105 candidates have already been officially listed as of 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Meanwhile, after months of speculations, Vice President Manuel “Noli” De Castro finally laid to rest the issue on whether or not he will run for public office.

As of press time Tuesday, the Vice President has yet to submit his CoC for any elective office. The filing of CoCs ends midnight of December 1.

He is expected to step down from his post as Vice President when his term expires at noon of June 30, 2009. Aside from occupying the No. 2 post in the country, he is also the concurrent housing czar being the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), Presidential Adviser for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), head of the National Price Coordinating Council, and chairman of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) Board of Trustees.

For several months, De Castro, a former broadcast journalist before he decided to enter politics, had the whole nation guessing on his political future.

When he was the top and strongest choice, De Castro outrightly declined offers from the then ruling party Lakas-CMD but continued to keep silent on whether he will run for the presidency. (With reports from Mario B. Casayuran, Leslie Ann G. Aquino, Roy C. Mabasa, and Anna Liza T. Villas)