THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said winning candidates in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) may immediately assume their won posts provided they complete the required process.
In a four-page letter sent to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Comelec – Law Department head Maria Norina Casingal said winning BSKE bets may “immediately and effectively assume office” in accordance with the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) on the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 11935, or the law that postponed the BSKE from December 2022 to October this year.
“Enunciated by the Supreme Court in Item (3) of the Decision dated June 27, 2023, particularly that the sitting and incumbent BSK officials shall continue to hold office until their successor shall have been elected and qualified,” said Casingal.
“Therefore, applying these discussions to your inquiry, if the candidate for the October 30, 2023 BSKE obtained the highest number of votes among the remaining candidates for the same position in the same barangay, and later on proclaimed, and subsequently took his or her oath of office, the said candidate, now referred to as the winning candidate and/or newly elected official, may immediately and effectively assume office,” Casingal said.
The Comelec official, however, stressed that the winning candidates must also comply with the requirements to file their Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) before they will be allowed to assume their posts.
“Under Section 14 of RA No. 7166, no person elected to any public office shall enter upon the duties of his or her office until he or she has filed the SOCE within 30 days after the day of the election,” said Casingal.
She explained that the Comelec’s position is in accordance with the SC’s ruling that the term of office of the sitting and incumbent BSK officials ended on December 31, 2022 as provided under Republic Act No. 11462.
“At present, the sitting and incumbent BSK officials continue to hold office under a hold-over capacity,” she added.
The letter to the DILG was sent in response to the inquiry of the latter on the exact period of the assumption of newly elected barangay and SK officials to be elected on October 30.
Meanwhile, Elections chairman George Garcia said the Comelec expects winners in areas pilot testing the automated BSKE to already be proclaimed by nightfall.
In a press conference in Manila, Garcia said that winners in the Barangay Zone II Poblacion and Paliparan III in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, and in Barangay Pasong Tamo in the 6th district of Quezon City will be proclaimed earlier than areas using the manual system of voting.
“If the voting closes at 3 p.m., even if electronic counting starts at 4 p.m., they can already proclaim by 6 p.m.,” said Garcia.
“Compare this to the manual elections, they may reach 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. before a proclamation is made,” he added.
In an interview during the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) at the Pasong Tamo Elementary School in Quezon City, election officer Zennia Ledesma-Magno said the Electoral Boards (EBs) prefer the automated election system over the manual voting.
She said this is because the automated elections are concluded faster than the manual version.
“In manual versus automated, it is better to have the automated because the process is faster,” said Magno.
“The manual appreciation of ballots are already replaced by the machines counting the votes,” she added.
During the FTS activity in Quezon City, 72 vote counting machines (VCMs) were tested and sealed at the Pasong Tamo Elementary School.
Additionally, 45 and 16 VCMs were used at the Judge Feliciano Belmonte Sr High School and CBE Town Multi-Purpose Hall, respectively.
According to Magno, the FTS went without untoward incidents.
In a related development, Garcia said more than 100 candidates in the running in the BSKE are set to be disqualified for violating various rules and regulations set by the poll body.
Garcia said the first and second divisions of the Comelec are set to come out with their respective rulings on the disqualification cases filed against the candidates.
“We have several decisions on the disqualification of candidates set for promulgation now regarding cases ranging from illegal campaigning, vote buying, premature campaigning,” said Garcia.
“Both Divisions will release their decisions today. We secured the commitment of all members of the Commission that these decisions will be signed (Wednesday),” he added.
As of press time, the decisions on disqualification cases have yet to be made available.
Aside from the resolutions on disqualification cases, Garcia said they will also release the orders of suspension on the proclamation of candidates facing DQ cases in case they win the elections.
This is in accordance with the Comelec’s earlier resolution suspending the proclamation of winning candidates if they have pending disqualification cases.
“We will release the list of candidates whose proclamation may be suspended,” he said, adding: “We are directing our Election Officers in these areas to inform the Barangay Board of Canvassers of the different barangays that these personalities will and should not be proclaimed even if they will win the election on Monday.”
Data released by the Comelec showed that 241 candidates will be covered by the suspension order, as of October 25.
At the same time, Garcia assailed the reported vote buying incident being done in Navotas City but involving registered voters of Malabon City.
In a report released by the Comelec, Navotas City Election Officer Gregorio Bonifacio related that an alleged vote buying act was caught at the Mega Sardines Warehouse located in M. Naval St. in Barangay San Jose, Navotas City.
“One Maribel Eugenio Policarpio, from Prosperidad St., Tugatog, Malabon City, was caught in the act of distributing envelopes with money worth P300 to P500 inside,” said Bonifacio.
“Accordingly, all were registered voters of Malabon and were conducting watchers training at the place of incident, with more or less 200 persons inside the warehouse,” Bonifacio said.
Garcia said he is dismayed that there are still candidates who continue to engage in vote buying. “It is angering that despite the fact that we have been issuing warnings against vote buying, there are still those that commit them,” he said.
He said they will immediately file charges against the candidates involved and order the suspension of their proclamation.