CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued 675 show cause orders to Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) candidates in Central Luzon over alleged premature campaigning and vote buying.
Comelec-3 (Central Luzon) Assistant Regional Director Elmo Duque said on Wednesday that 311 or 46 percent of those candidates with issued orders are from this province, while the rest are from other areas of the region.
He said no BSKE candidates in the region have been disqualified yet pending the review of their responses.
“Hindi ko alam kung ilan ang magpo-prosper dun at magkakaroon ng resulta na magdi-disqualify sa isang kandidato (I do not know how many of those will prosper and will result in the disqualification of a candidate),” Duque said in a radio interview.
He said the poll body has vowed to come up with the decision before the election day on Oct. 30.
“Marami tayong abogado na kasama sa task force para i-evaluate yung substance at yung mga ebidensya, na kung may substantive evidence to warrant the disqualification of the candidates (We have a lot of lawyers that are included in the task force to evaluate the substance and the evidence, if there is substantive evidence to warrant the disqualification of the candidates),” he said.
Duque said even if the candidates win and are proclaimed, they will still be disqualified once found guilty of violating election rules.
Aside from disqualification, he said violators could also face election offense charges and could be meted out a prison term of between one and six years; forfeiture of the right to suffrage; and perpetual disqualification to hold public office for aspiring candidates.
The Comelec official also said there were so far no reports of election-related violent incidents in the region.
“Meron lang tayong isang insidente na kung saan we categorized 'red' dahil meron kasing recent incident ng enkwentro between the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the CTG (communist terrorist group) sa Laur, Nueva Ecija (We only had one incident wherein we categorized it 'red' because of the recent encounter between the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the CTG (communist terrorist group) in Laur, Nueva Ecija ,” he said.
Duque said other areas in the region have been categorized as "orange", "yellow" and "green" but “those are minimal cases as BSKE elections are normally intense”.
With the start of the campaign period on Thursday, local chief executives in the region called on the BSKE candidates to remain calm and ensure fair play in their respective areas.
Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda asked the candidates to reaffirm their commitment to a peaceful and orderly campaign.
Nueva Ecija Governor Aurelio Umali, for his part, said, “Let us all be reminded that public trust and public service go hand-in-hand. Let us not allow our 'pagkakapitbahay' (neighborliness) lose due to elections,” he said.
The BSKE campaign period will last until Oct. 28, two days before the Oct. 30 elections.
There are 8,607 candidates running for barangay captain and 8,042 for Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson in the 3,105 villages of Central Luzon. (PNA)
