FOR PEACEFUL POLLS. Stakeholders for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) released white doves after the peace covenant and manifesto of support signing on Monday (Oct. 16, 2023) at the Police Regional Office-Cordillera headquarters in Camp Bado Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet. Comelec Cordillera regional director Atty. Julius Torres highlighted the importance of BSK officials, saying they are the first responders to issues and problems in the community. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Philippine National Police (PNP) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday led the covenant signing for an orderly, honest, and peaceful Barangay and Sangguniaang Kabataan (BSK) polls, with an executive citing the importance of village officials as frontliners.
Atty. Julius Torres, regional director of Comelec in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), in his message during the program held at the Police Regional Office-Cordillera headquarters in Camp Bado Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet, said the event aims to remind everyone that “the elections should not be attended with fraud, or violence because this is a supreme manifestation of democracy.”
He said that while many are saying that the BSKE is not as important as the national and local elections, on the contrary, it should be as meaningful because the barangay and SK officials are the first frontliners when there are issues and problems in the community.
“We go to them to bring before them our problem, that is why officials must be industrious and caring. This is the reason we value the BSKE,” he said.
Also part of the covenant were representatives from the Department of Education, Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Police Commission, representatives from the different religious denominations and the media.
Peace and order situation in Abra
On the sidelines of the event, Torres said they continue to assess the situation in the province of Abra to determine whether to add government troops from the military and the police.
Earlier, Comelec-Abra officer Mae Richelle Belmes said she has requested the Philippine National Police-Abra for manpower augmentation because of incidents of intimidation, vote buying, and withdrawal of teachers from poll duties as well as withdrawal of certificates of candidacy by 122 candidates for different positions in different municipalities.
The same request was made by the provincial government through a post on its official social media account on October 15, citing as a reason the violence in the province in recent days after armed men threatened people and exchanged gunfire with law enforcers, which led to the death of one and the arrest of two members of the said group.
“We hope to have a final assessment within the week on whether to change the alert status of the province or the barangays,” Torres said.
He said the region currently has 14 villages that are considered areas of concern, 13 of which are in Abra while the other one is in Kalinga.
He said they have already trained over 50 policemen who will serve as special electoral board members in lieu of the teachers.
“Our police and the military are handling the situation. We hope we do not need to add more policemen who will serve as special electoral board because that would spell out the condition of the peace and order situation in the province,” he added.
Drugs law violation
Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the region has filed charges of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and the polls-related gun ban against a candidate for barangay captain in Alab, Bontoc, Mountain Province.
Julius Paderes, PDEA regional director, in a separate interview, said the residence of Alex Pilingan Balteo, also known as “Baniswa”, was subjected to a search warrant in the afternoon of Oct. 14, 2023 following a positive case build-up of the person being involved in the sale of “shabu” or methamphetamine.
He said “there was a positive test buy for shabu” and the police, armed with a search warrant, found in the suspect’s residence “16 grams of the illegal substance, an improvised tooter with liquid shabu, drug paraphernalia, a 9-millimeter pistol with live ammunition and additional live ammunitions.” (PNA)
