MANILA – This year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) are more violent compared with the previous barangay polls, despite authorities claiming Election Day was generally peaceful.
The number of “validated” election-related incidents (ERIs) for this year’s BSKE on Oct. 30 has surpassed the previous village polls’ figure in 2013, according to the Philippine National Police.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said that a total of 47 ERIs were validated since the start of the election period on Aug. 28, which killed 15 persons and injured 43 others.
The figure is a 17.5-percent increase from the 40 validated ERIs recorded during the previous barangay elections in 2018. During the election day on Monday, the PNP only validated 35 validated ERIs.
The 47 ERIs was still lower compared with the reports of violence reported during the BSKE in 2013 (57 validated ERIs) and 2010 (97 validated ERIs).
Under investigation
However, this year’s ERIs could still increase with the PNP still investigating 114 “suspected” ERIs and four more weeks before the three-month election period ends on Nov. 29. Meanwhile, 103 other cases were concluded to be not election related.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and Northern Mindanao reported the highest number of validated ERIs at 16 and 13, respectively.
A total of six persons were killed — five from BARMM and one from Northern Mindanao — and 25 were injured on the 39 reported violent incidents during the election day on Oct. 30. Of these 39 suspected incidents, six were confirmed to be election-related.
ERIs in ‘green’ category areas
According to Fajardo, out of the 47 validated ERIs, 17 cases happened in areas under the “green” category — the lowest out of the four-level, color-coded security scheme — or those which do not have security concerns and are generally peaceful and orderly.
Fajardo said this did not necessarily mean that the authorities made the wrong threat assessment.
“However, these ERIs will be considered to include these areas in the yellow category in the next election,” she added.
The other categories were yellow (with a history of election-related incidents), orange (areas with serious threats) and red (which have serious and grave security threats and a history of election-related incidents).
Winners proclaimed
Canvassing and proclamation of BSKE winners in all 42,001 barangays nationwide were completed on Wednesday — two days after the election day on Oct. 30, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). No failure of elections was reported in any areas.
Winners in all the barangays in BARMM, where most of the ERIs occurred, were already proclaimed, Comelec chair George Garcia said.
“The only remaining unproclaimed candidates were the ones ordered suspended by the Commission and those in areas where the electoral board availed itself of the five-day notice rule,” he added. (Dexter Cabalza © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
