The Commission on Elections-Davao Region (Comelec-Davao Region) clarified on Tuesday morning, October 17, 2023, that the final disqualifications for the reported six Davao aspirants for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) will be determined by the national headquarters at the central office.
Comelec-Davao Regional Director lawyer Gay Enumerables said that their regional agency does not possess the authority to impose disqualifications. Instead, they can only submit a recommendation based on their thorough evaluations.
“Hindi disqualified. Basta pinadala na namin ang recommendation based on our findings. Ang Comelec sa Manila na ang mag-act on it. Depende na gihapon sa kanila (They are not disqualified. As long as we have sent the recommendation based on our findings, the Comelec in Manila will act on it. It's still up to them)," the lawyer said.
Enumerables also noted that their office will not publicly disclose the names of these candidates. However, she confirmed that they come from various areas in the region.
“Hindi kami pwede mag-divulge kung ano yung laman ng ating investigation and hindi namin ma-divulge kung sino to sila basta they are all from this region (We cannot divulge the content of our investigation, and we cannot reveal who they are, but they are all from this region)," she added.
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia reported that approximately 125 disqualification cases have been filed nationwide for the 2023 BSKE. Twelve candidates have been disqualified so far due to prior criminal cases.
One notable cause for disqualification among these candidates is their involvement in premature campaigning. According to the Omnibus Election Code, any candidate, potential candidate, party, or group of individuals is prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities outside the designated campaign period.
The manual voting of BSKE is on October 30, 2023. DEF