‘No holdovers if SK polls deferred’ By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) | Updated September 12, 2013 - 12:00am 5 119 googleplus0 6 MANILA, Philippines - As moves to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections gain ground, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has opposed proposals to allow incumbent SK officials to remain in a holdover capacity. Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the poll body’s proposal is for an indefinite postponement or until 2016 without holdovers. Brillantes said if the SK officials would be allowed to stay, they would continue to receive the internal revenue allotment (IRA) estimated to be P6 billion a year, representing 10 percent of the entire IRA earmarked for barangays. “If there is a holdover, those who won in the SK elections in 2010 will already be overage by 2016. They are no longer qualified. Actuall,y by October 2014 none of them are aged 18,” he said. Believing that SK is not effective, Brillantes said the postponement could be an opportunity to review and determine if the system should be scrapped. Calls to reset the SK elections gained ground after the Senate on Tuesday approved on second reading a bill seeking its postponement. Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms voted to postpone the polls until the last Monday of October 2016. Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca said there was a consensus during a hearing of the Committee on Electoral Suffrage that the SK has not achieved its purpose. Padaca said it had been raised during the hearing that SK’s projects were primarily basketball tournaments and dance or nighttime parties that sometimes lead to teenage pregnancies. Preparation and budget Brillantes stressed the need for Congress to immediately decide whether to postpone the SK polls or not. He gave assurance that for the meantime, the Comelec would slow down the printing of SK ballots. “The issue here is if we don’t act immediately, we will be continuously spending for SK preparations. We have started spending a little amount for that,” he said. For the barangay and SK polls, the Comelec was given P1.1 billion although they need P3.4 billion. To augment the budget, the poll body will use its own savings. Comelec Commissioner Lui Guia said there are 3,205,967 registered voters for SK and 54,051,626 for the barangay elections. As of 7:30 a.m. yesterday, a total of 12,527,736 official ballots for 27 provinces have been printed, while 9,948,958 have been “sheeted and cut.” “Provinces from the farthest north and south are considered priority areas and are first to be printed,” Guia said. According to the Comelec Steering Committee, there are 170,603 clustered precincts for barangay and 45,775 for SK. There are 42,028 barangays in 1,491 municipalities and 143 cities in 80 provinces across the country. PNP ready for October polls The Philippine National Police (PNP) is preparing this early to ensure peaceful and orderly elections on Oct. 28. PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima said they would strictly implement the 45-day nationwide gun ban, staring from Sept. 28 up to Nov. 12, or 30 days before and 15 days after the elections. Purisima has issued command memorandum circular SAFE 2013-ALPHA (Secure and Fair Elections-A) setting the guidelines for cooperation with the Armed Forces through the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center. He designated Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas as commander of the National Task Force SAFE 2013-Alpha. Rojas, concurrent PNP deputy chief for operations, has convened the heads of the Regional Special Operations Task Group (RSOTG) and National Operational Support Units to discuss PNP security preparations for the barangay and SK polls. He ordered the temporary transfer of assignment of personnel from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao identified or related to the candidates to prevent them from influencing voters. He said all gun ban exemptions issued during the May 13 elections would be recognized as valid during the October polls. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:57:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015