Thursday, November 01, 2007 Holidays prolong SK bets’ agony
WITH the long holidays, six Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) candidates will only know next week whether they won in the recent elections.
In what election officers described as a “unique situation,” the six are tied for the sixth and seventh slots for SK councilor in Barangay Parian.
Under the rules, the tie is broken by drawing lots. However, yesterday’s drawing of lots did not push through because some members of the barangay board of canvassers (BOC) failed to go to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office.
Handbook
According to the handbook of general instructions for the synchronized barangay and SK elections, the BOC should record the tie in the minutes of its proceedings. It is then required to notify the candidates and, after five days, hold a meeting to draw the lots and proclaim the winner.
Cebu City north district election officer Marchel Sarno said the long holidays will delay proclamation of the winners.
Mark Jill Sesant, 16; Raymond Ursal, 15; Anthony Tadena, 16; Jolly Joy Serad, 16; and Bernard Mati, 17, told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that they are willing to accept the result of the drawing of lots. The five were at the Comelec yesterday morning for the draw, scheduled for 10 a.m. The sixth candidate, Christian Nicon, was absent yesterday.
Sarno said the drawing of lots, which will be supervised by Comelec, needs at least two representatives of the BOC.
Parian Barangay Secretary Carmencita Rodriguez said she tried calling up members of the BOC yesterday but no one answered her calls. She said she will call them up again over the weekend for Monday’s scheduled draw.
Set aside animosity
“This is a unique situation. What we have in the past were two or three contenders tying for a position. Comelec will supervise the BOC in tossing a coin for a pair who tied, like what happened in Mabolo’s seventh SK councilor,” Sarno said.
Meanwhile, outgoing San Jose, Cebu City Barangay Captain Rodelio Arinasa called on his constituents and political rivals to set aside animosity in the interest of their constituents.
He said this as his wife Marineza was elected to replace him (not Edgar Borces as earlier reported).
Elections in San Jose last Monday was not exactly smooth, as the opposite camp protested the outcome after Marineza won by a lead of just 26 votes.
“Kami ra mang mga kaliwata. Mas maayo’g naay harmonious relationship kay lain mag-unay rag gubot. Sa eleksyon ra ng isyu-isyo. Inig kahuman, ang pagpalambo sa barangay kay kung gubot unsaon pagserbisyo,” he said. (All of us are related. It doesn’t look good if there is acrimony. These issues just surface during elections. After the elections, we should focus on developing the barangay.)
At Comelec, both the north and south district offices received queries from disgruntled candidates on how to file petitions for a recount.
The callers wanted to know how much they would spend for one, said Tessie Mercado of the Comelec north district.
But the callers were told that complaints are to be filed before the regular courts.
Mercado said each complainant will spend P500 per ballot box that the court will open.
South District Election Officer Edwin Cadungog said he also told the callers that instead of the Comelec, it is the courts that have jurisdiction over petitions for a recount.
Mercado said the concerns were mostly on the neighborhood rule, where votes intended for a barangay captain but written on the first slot for barangay councilor should still be counted instead of being considered as stray.
Camputhaw Barangay Captain Lorenzo Basamot and T. Padilla Barangay Chief Michael Ralota were proclaimed the other night.
Their proclamations were delayed when election returns intended for the BBOC were instead placed inside the ballot boxes by members of the board of election tellers.
Basamot said he felt vindicated that the people voted for him despite the administrative complaint he is facing. The complaint was filed by his political opponents, who are outgoing barangay councilors.
He said he won by a margin of over 2,000 votes against his closest rival.
On the other hand, Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Eugenio Faelnar said that four members of the ABC board failed to earn another mandate after the elections.
But he is leaving it to Mayor Tomas Osmeña whom to endorse as replacements and whether or not he will still remain as ABC president. (NRC/RHM)
