Comelec open to barangay, SK poll postponement in Negros Oriental

MANILA, Philippines — While Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia is open to the proposal to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in Negros Oriental, he disclosed yesterday that it has to be studied carefully.

“It should be seriously and carefully studied by the commission. Although admittedly, we have the power to postpone the election in an area,” Garcia said when asked to comment on Sen. Francis Tolentino’s proposal to postpone the barangay and SK polls in Negros Oriental.

Tolentino made the proposal during Wednesday’s Senate public order and dangerous drugs panel’s inquiry into the spate of political killings in the country, including Negros Oriental where governor Roel Degamo was shot dead last month.

But Garcia said that they cannot easily decide on whether or not to suspend the barangay and SK polls in Negros Oriental as he emphasized that there are “stringent requirements” of the Omnibus Election Code that have to be followed in order for them to suspend an election in a particular area. He added that such postponement will only last for 30 days.

Under Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code, the Comelec, either motu proprio or upon a verified petition, may postpone the elections in any political subdivision due to “any serious case, such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous cases of such nature.”

The law states that elections will be postponed if the reasons make the holding of free, orderly and honest elections impossible.

In a radio interview, Garcia also noted that violence, or any other reasons that would warrant the postponement of the barangay and SK elections should happen during the election period of the barangay and SK elections in October this year.

Bishops condemn killings

Two Catholic bishops of Bohol condemned the recent killings in the province.

In a joint statement, Bishop Patrick Daniel Parcon of Talibon and Bishop Alberto Uy of Tagbilaran recently said that these killings are unacceptable and must be condemned.

CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said the two prelates also enjoined the people to pray for the end to the killings and for peace to reign in their communities.

At least three cases of killings were reported in Ubay town in the past two weeks this month alone.

On April 3, a retired policeman was shot dead in the village of Calanggaman. On April 14, a 60-year-old man was gunned down in the village of Los Angeles in the same town.

In the town’s San Pascual village, a gasoline station security guard was shot dead in a robbery on April 17. Three suspects have been arrested by the local police.

There is also an ongoing investigation over the killing of a cockpit referee in Tipolo village by still unidentified assailants last March 19. – Evelyn Macairan