ILOILO City – The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will push through on Oct. 30, 2023 and according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in this city, it is readying for the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.
City Assistant Election Officer Jonathan Sayno said the COC filing will be held at Robinsons Place in the City Proper, specifically in the spacious Cinema 5 and Cinema 6.
Comelec-Iloilo City has to relocate there, said Sayno, because of the ongoing redevelopment of the Iloilo Terminal Market where the election office was situated.
Several persons already sought COC forms. Sayno said some of them were re-electionists.
He declined to name them but said some belonged to “famous” families.
There were also “new faces”, he added.
The City Comelec is expecting around 7,000 to 8,000 aspirants for both the barangay and SK polls that’s why they need a bigger space to accommodate them during the COC filing.
Based on the official list provided by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) – Iloilo City, 54 punong barangays are not eligible anymore to run, having exhausted the three consecutive term limits set by law.
There are 180 barangays in the city.
As to the SK, Sayno noted the anti-dynasty provision of Republic Act 10742 or the SK Reform Act, specifically Chapter 2, Section 10 which states that “a candidate for SK must not be related within the second civil degree of consanguinity (relationship by blood) or affinity (relationship by marriage) to any incumbent elected official.”
“Ang isa ka SK chairman or SK kagawad dapat before sila mag-file, wala gid sang incumbent elected official from President down to the barangay level. Kon gusto ya mag-file kag ang iya father, for example, is outgoing punong barangay pero incumbent during the filing, ma-resign gid ang father or kon sin-o nga relative within the second degree of relation by affinity or consanguinity, otherwise ma-effect ang anti-dynasty provision,” Sayno explained.
For SK posts, aspirants must be at least 18 years old but strictly not more than 24 years old by the day of the election.
Iloilo City has a total of 333, 534 registered voters for the barangay and SK elections, majority of these are 18 to 30 years old.
The figure also includes around 90,000 young SK voters.
The City Comelec established a total of 957 voting precincts; each can accommodate a maximum of 400 registered voters.
Sayno said they are expecting the elections to be a tedious because it is manual./PN
