Monday, October 29, 2007 Barangay, SK elections on By Carlo P. Mallo
LOCAL and national officials are urging everyone to elect their barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan leaders Monday.
"I am calling upon all our citizens to exercise their right to vote," Police Regional Office-Southern Mindanao Director Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II said in an interview last Saturday.
In a radio interview Sunday, Press Secretary and Acting Executive Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said the President has stressed the importance of the Barangay and SK elections as these are the frontline offices of government and the very first organizations that people go to for assistance.
"Ito pong Barangay (at SK) elections ay napaka-importanteng exercise. Alam po natin na itong barangay ay ang smallest unit of government, at iyan iyong gobyerno na karaniwang humaharap sa tao sa araw-araw. Sila iyong karaniwang unang nalalapitan ng ating mga kababayan," Bunye said.
Bunye appealed to all voters to exercise utmost discretion on choosing candidates and to base their decisions on qualified people who can genuinely help in moving the barangay and the youth forward to prosperity and unity.
"Huwag natin masyadong gamitin itong popularidad o itong pagiging kamag-anak o pagiging kaibigan. Higit po nating bigyan ng weight iyong kakayanan talaga, iyong kakayanan po na mag-offer ng kanilang services para dito sa barangay elections," Bunye said.
President Arroyo is scheduled to vote in her hometown of Lubao, Pampanga tomorrow morning.
With regards to threats of communist rebels and their allies in Davao Region Caro said he does not expect much disturbance to come from these groups.
"They also have fielded their own candidates, and I expect that they would not disturb the peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections," Caro said.
Caro also said all security measures are in place and that he expects nothing short of a peaceful and orderly conduct of the polls Monday.
For his part, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said that if there is one thing that he can assure all candidates for the polls, it would be that all their votes will be counted.
"Your votes will be counted, and it would be counted correctly," Duterte said in his weekly program Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa.
