Some candidates for this year’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (SK) in Laguna province have all the luck in the world, as they do not have any “opposition.”
Finally!
After more than six years of being postponed over and over again, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is once again set to allow the public to exercise its right of suffrage in the lowest level of Philippine governance, the barangay.
On October 30, Monday, Lagunenses will join millions around the country in choosing for a barangay captain and seven members of the Sangguniang Barangay, as well as a chairperson and seven members of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).
Barangay and SK elections are said to be livelier and more hotly-contested than national or local elections, partly due to the fact that candidates and voters know each other more personally.
A presidential candidate can charm voters with glib promises of P20-a-kilo rice, but an incumbent barangay captain won’t get away with demands about his performance (or lack of it) in such mundane matters as garbage collection.
And as in the case of the 2022 national and local elections, this year’s barangay and SK elections are also said to be an “achievement test” of sorts for the performance of barangay and SK officials during the three-year Covid-19 pandemic.
Even kagawads are ‘unopposed’
While barangay elections in Laguna province have been marked by intense campaigning and mudslinging on social media, the campaign period has been “generally peaceful” with no reports of election-related violence in the province as of this writing.
Even so, some areas in Laguna province now have lists of candidates that wouldn’t look out of place in totalitarian regimes where “single-list” candidates - that is, candidates belonging only to a single party – appear on the ballot.
Research conducted by OpinYon Laguna showed that San Pablo City topped the number of barangays with unopposed candidates, with 13 out of the city's 80 barangays having only one candidate for barangay captain, while 15 barangays have only one candidate for SK chairman.
Meanwhile, residents of Barangay Panalaban in Majayjay, Laguna probably won't have to make hard decisions on choosing their leaders.
Not only is there only one candidate for barangay captain, there are only seven candidates for barangay councilors – the exact same number voters are supposed to choose for the barangay council.
Barangay II in Pagsanjan, Barangays Banilan, Dorado, Matikiw and Tavera in Pakil, and Barangays Acevida, Llavac and Magsaysay in Siniloan also have only one candidate running for SK chair and seven candidates running for SK councilor.
And that’s just in the towns where the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) office has published the official list of candidates on their social media accounts, which begs the question: How many more barangays in the province have “unopposed” candidates?
Fewer candidates?
But some barangays apparently have it worse: in Barangay Anibong in Pagsanjan, there’s only six candidates for members of their youth council – just one candidate short of the required seven members – while Barangay Galalan in Pangil has only TWO candidates running for SK councilor.
In the town of Siniloan, on the other hand, Barangays Liyang and Laguio have only six councilors running for SK councilor, while Barangay G. Redor has only four candidates.
Will those barangays have to hold a special election to determine who’s going to take up those “unoccupied” seats in their Sangguniang Kabataan?
Ghost voters
By the way, the funny thing is that this year’s elections will be held a few days before All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2), where Filipinos traditionally pay respects to their departed loved ones.
The day after the elections (Halloween, October 31) is also traditionally a day in which ghosts are reportedly most active – reinforced by the tradition of “Pangangaluluwa” that has largely been morphed with the Western tradition of “trick-or-treat.”
With that question in mind, one can’t help but wonder: will unscrupulous candidates summon the forces of “ghost voters” in this year’s barangay and SK elections?
Comelec officials, however, believe that with a much more rigorous system of voter tracking, “ghost voters” will have much less chance to haunt voting precincts in this election.
As of July 10, for instance, Comelec has deleted 415,433 multiple registrants, while it has called on Congress to “entirely annul” the current list of voters so that it can “start anew” and update its database of voters.
Civil registrars of towns and cities in Laguna province, whose job is it to record the births and deaths of their constituents, have also worked hand in glove with the Comelec on this issue, according to officials who have talked with OpinYon Laguna.
"Is our office obligated to report or update to Comelec of registered voters who passed away? The answer is YES. We furnish the Comelec of the said list monthly," Riah Fojas, head of the San Pedro City Civil Registrar’s Office, said in an e-mail to OpinYon Laguna.
Winners with cases
Another issue that has some voters concerned is that some of the candidates in the elections have pending criminal or administrative cases.
Comelec has laid down the law on such cases: if those candidates win this year’s polls, they still can’t consider themselves victors yet, as the commission will suspend their proclamations.
According to Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia, some candidates in Laguna province are set to be served with suspension orders should they win.
"Halos kalahati po ng masu-suspend namin ay mailalabas na iyong kaso nila whether dismissed or disqualified," Garcia was quoted as saying.
As of Wednesday, October 25, the poll body has filed 186 disqualification petitions against BSK bets allegedly engaged in premature campaigning, with 7,103 orders issued nationwide.
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