Vote wisely in barangay polls, says Belmonte

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. ordered the Central Police District (CPD) yesterday to keep a round-the-clock watch on the synchronized barangay and SK elections in the city to ensure a peaceful, honest and meaningful elections.

At the same time, the mayor also urged his constituents to participate actively in choosing their barangay leaders.

"I have directed the CPD director, Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Tor to see to it that the elections would be peaceful and orderly," he said.

Belmonte said candidates should faithfully abide with the Commission on Elections rules on designated places and sizes of campaign posters.

He said city’s two million residents should not take barangay elections for granted because "meaningful change begins at the lowest level of the country’s political life." "This political exercise involves a basic political right of every citizen to give meaning to participatory democracy," he explained.

The mayor said he has also ordered the city’s Barangay Operations Center chief Albert Seno to coordinate with the Comelec and the police in monitoring the peace and order situation in the city’s polling centers in some 142 barangays.

Meanwhile, Manila Rep. Harry Angping said he is confident that elections in Metro Manila would be generally peaceful despite threats of violence in certain areas. – Romel Bagares