AMID proposals to postpone the Oct. 23 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Cebu Province will enforce the gun ban from Sept. 23 to Oct. 30.
Under Comelec Resolution 10197, which sets the rules on the gun ban, the carrying or transporting of firearms and other deadly weapons and the employment of the services of security personnel or bodyguards by candidates during the election period are declared prohibited.
Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Lionel Castillano said that bodyguards or security personnel are not exempted from the gun ban, unless authorized by the Comelec.
Other acts prohibited during the election period include the alteration of territory of a precinct or establishment of a new precinct; coercing, threatening, intimidating or terrorizing any election official or employee in the performance of his election functions or duties; transfer or detail of officers and employees in the civil service including public school teachers; organizing or maintaining reaction forces, strike forces or similar forces; and the suspension of any elective provincial, city, municipal or barangay officer.
If the elections proceed as scheduled, Castillano said those who want to run for office can file their certificate of candidacy (COC) between Sept. 23 and Sept. 30. The campaign period will run from Oct. 13 to 21.
Those interested in running for office can ask about the requirements and forms at their respective Comelec offices from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Castillano said he noticed that they have been getting more inquiries on whether the elections will be postponed, rather than questions about the requirements to run.
"They must remember that unless a law postponing the Oct. 23 elections is passed, not even the President can postpone this. There needs to be a law," Castillano added.
Meanwhile, Provincial Board Member Celestino “Tining” Martinez III urged barangay officials to file their COC between Sept. 23 and Sept. 30 if there is still no law postponing the elections by then.
Martinez, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) Cebu Federation, said that “it is good to be safe than sorry.”
However, he said he is in favor of postponing the barangay and SK elections to give way to the Barangay Reform Act pending at the House of Representatives.
In that bill, Martinez said, there is a proposal to extend the term of barangay officials to five years.
The bill will also allow Congress to adjust the barangay officials’ pay so that it complies with the salary standardization, rather than give them a monthly honorarium. This will allow them to become members of the Government Services Insurance System, assuring them of a stable income, he said. (Angel Mae Bellita, USJ-R Intern)