The election period has officially begun on January 9th, but there is still no final list of national candidates.

The Commission on Elections has trimmed the number of presidential aspirants from 15 to 10, and this could still change.

Former senator Bongbong Marcos is dealing with a number of cases seeking to disqualify him from the race as he makes his case for a no-show at a Comelec hearing because he was sick, while granting two radio interviews the day prior.

In all these exchanges, the question remains: Will a popular candidate be eliminated from the presidential race or just let the people decide his fate?

And amid reports of alleged hacking of its servers supposedly compromising voter information, the Comelec confronts issues of integrity of the automated election system.

This is Politics As Usual with our chief correspondent and anchor Pia Hontiveros.