BACOLOD City – An appointed or job-order casual government employee running for the barangay or Sangguniang Kabataan election (BSKE) is deemed to have resigned.
Atty. Kathrina Trinio-Caña, Commission on Elections (Comelec) officer in this city, cited Article VI, Section 39, of the Omnibus Election Code.
It states that “any elective or appointive municipal, city, provincial or national official or employee, or those in the civil or military service, including those in government-owned or controlled corporations, shall be considered automatically resigned upon the filing of a certificate of candidacy (COC) for a barangay office.”
City Administrator Pacifico Maghari III disclosed that several city government employees filed their COCs for the October polls. The city has yet to determine the exact number.
Maghari said the employees filed an official leave from their respective offices, and they will also seek a legal opinion from the City Legal Office about their work status.
Caña explained that if an aspirant is a private employee, the company has the discretion to decide whether or not to consider the employee to have resigned.
Meanwhile, Caña said as of the Aug. 31 Comelec record, there were 11 aspirants whose COCs were not accepted during the filing.
The Comelec officer clarified that the office did not reject the COCs. The aspirants themselves decided not to file anymore after the agency explained that they did not qualify.
Of the 11 non-acceptances of COCs, six were overaged, four were underaged, and the other one had a deactivated voter’s registration./PN
