The Department of the Interior and Government (DILG) is elated that some one million Filipinos have filed their certificates of candidacies for around 600,000 positions that are at stake in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) this coming May 14, 2018.
DILG OIC-Secretary Eduardo M. Ano says that the huge turnout of candidates during the eight-day filing of COCs is an indication that more and more Filipinos want to significantly contribute to President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision of change for the country.
“This is a good indication that Filipinos are now more proactive and would like to take the lead in initiating change in their respective communities,” says Año.
The filing of COCs started last April 14 up to April 20 and was extended until Saturday, April 21, 2018.
As of April 20, 2018, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) received a total of 1,070,991 COCs for both barangay and youth elections. Out of this number, 684,785 were for barangay positions, while 386,206 were for positions in the Sangguniang Kabataan.
The DILG has been pro-actively helping the Comelec in the information, communication and education campaign for people to help create meaningful change at the barangay level by participating in the elections.
DILG Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya welcomes the big number of aspirants for the barangay and SK polls because this will give the voters a wide range of options on whom to vote for in the elections.
“More candidates would mean more options for the voting public to decide who among the them are sincere and competent to spearhead meaningful change in the barangays,” says Malaya.
The DILG Spokesperson says “this goes well with our efforts to encourage people to vote for Matino, Mahusay at Maaasahang (accountable, skillful, and reliable) future barangay and SK officials.”
Earlier, the DILG has urged all barangay and SK candidates to voluntarily submit their resume to the Comelec upon filing of their COCs.
On May 14, registered voters will be voting for one punong barangay and seven sangguniang barangay members, while youth voters will elect one SK chairperson and seven SK members. Those aged 18 to 30 years old will vote both in the barangay and SK elections.
There are 671,168 positions up for grabs in the May 14 manual polls, of which 335,584 are for the barangays and 335,584 are for the Sangguniang Kabataan.
The DILG reports that barangay and SK elections is to be held in more than 40,000 villages nationwide except all barangays in Marawi City which is still undergoing rehabilitation. For the meantime, incumbent local officials in Marawi are on hold over status.
