FORUM GUEST. Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo poses with Wilson Lee Flores, moderator of the Pandesal Forum on Monday (May 22, 2023). The mayor said in the forum that he is supporting the plan to postpone the barangay and SK elections. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo on Monday said he is supporting calls for the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election (BSKE) in the whole province of Negros Oriental in October this year.
Remollo was the guest speaker during the Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City, which was also live-streamed through social media.
He said he has yet to bring up the matter to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) although he has coordinated and suggested this to Senator Francis Tolentino, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms.
“I was suggesting to him…and he told me that whatever resolutions I have from the ground I should present (it) to the Comelec,” he said.
The mayor said he was also monitoring the Senate hearings on the Degamo assassination and the other killings in Negros Oriental, where it was mentioned that the Comelec is willing to hold a public hearing on the possible deferment of the BSKE in the province.
“I am in favor (of the postponement) for one reason. I am not yet confident that the tension has subsided and I believe, historically, when it comes to barangay elections that they are more intense and there are more election-related crimes and people are very emotional,” he said, referring to the March 4 attack at the residence of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in Pamplona town where he and nine others were killed.
The barangay elections are supposedly not partisan but in reality, even with the SKs, they are, he added.
Despite the tension and calls to postpone the incoming polls, Remollo insisted that the capital city and the province, in general, are peaceful and safe for both locals and tourists alike.
In fact, he said the city recently hosted two huge events, namely, the Grand Lodge of the Philippines Free and Accepted Masons’ Annual Convention and the annual triathlon that had participants from all over the Philippines and some from abroad. (PNA)
