TWICE postponed and another proposal to thwart them, the barangay and SK elections have finally been given the green light on May 14, 2018.
This time, the barangay chairmen and kagawads as President Duterte boldly claimed are into illegal drugs are out to prove their mettle and convincingly disprove the claims of the Chief Executive. For, as President Duterte often said, those village chairmen are financed by drug lords with their money, a practice so harshly hated by the President.
It is no wonder therefore that somehow President Duterte has managed to have the elections postponed twice probably to have time and the momentum to weed out those with illegal drugs link.
Now the stage is set for the barangay and SK elections. All we have to do now is to scrutinize and vet carefully the candidates deserving and worth our votes.
We may now ask ourselves if the barangay and SK elections are that necessary in our democracy. Have they the relevance and impact on our nation's economy and posterity? Can we do without them without disturbing the balance of our governance?
In Mabalacat City, there are 27 barangay chairmen and 189 kagawads. Have they all performed creditably their mandated tasks and responsibilities or were they remiss in their sworn duties?
Barangay Poblacion chair Elmer "Totong" Mendiola has proven his worth to lead his constituents and is deserving to be reelected.
In Mabiga, I know of one candidate who is more than qualified to handle the post of Punong Barangay. He is Elmer Calaguas, a young, committed and principled candidate to replace the incumbent. Let us prove his mettle and competence.
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PESO Spes 2018. Once again, PESO Mabalacat City, headed by the energetic PESO Manager Bernard B. delos Reyes, assisted by the hardworking Virgie L. Miranda and other staff members Rea Reyes, Tei Aquino, Tess Cordova and Tess Adriano, has launched April 11, 2018 the summer job program for 2018 with 345 students qualifying in the DOLE-LGU category; 400 in the LGU and 28 were to be deployed in different McDonald's outlets.
This year, all the candidates were screened by Mayor Crisostomo C. Garbo, thus only the qualified ones were included in the program.