GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 03 November) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) urged aspirants in the Oct. 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in Region 12 to clean up public places with their campaign posters and other related materials.
Lawyer Jose Villanueva, Comelec Region 12 assistant director, said winning and even losing candidates should show sincerity and be responsible in “cleaning up their own tracks” with the elections now over.
“For the winners, they should take the lead on this and even clean up posters that are not theirs,” he said in a radio interview Thursday.
Losing candidates may also do their own clearing to show the people that “they are just sport,” he said.
Based on election regulations, all winning and losing candidates are required to submit their Statements of Contributions and Expenditures within 30 days after the elections.
The firearms ban, which started on Aug. 28 in line with the election period, will remain in effect until Nov. 29.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier said winning Barangay and SK candidates should assume office during a three-week transition period following their proclamation.
Villanueva said they have not yet received any directive or order from the Comelec central office regarding the suspension of the oathtaking of any winning candidate in the region, who were “100 percent proclaimed” on Wednesday morning, Nov. 1.
“We have issued show-cause orders to violators of the regulations on premature campaigning and illegal posting. We are also looking at two cases of vote-buying that were recorded a day before the elections,” he said.
The official said the vote-buying cases were documented in Barangay Morales, Koronadal City and in Poblacion, Polomolok town in South Cotabato.
“In Koronadal, there were no persons arrested as those responsible reportedly managed to run but evidence such as money, list (of recipients), sample ballots and envelopes were confiscated,” he said.
In Polomolok, the municipal election office reported the recovery of grocery vouchers that were allegedly used in vote-buying.
Villanueva said they were also coordinating with the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12 regarding cases related to the firearms ban in the region.
From Aug. 28 to Oct. 29, PRO-12 reported that a total of 46 suspects had been arrested in 219 operations related to the enforcement of the gun ban. A total of 231 small firearms, 17 light weapons, 17 explosives and more than 800 ammunition were recovered during the period. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)