Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said Wednesday he supports a plan to file charges against teachers and police officers who backed out of poll duties at the last minute during the barangay and Sangguiniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).
Abalos said an investigation should be conducted first to determine if these poll workers had valid reasons for suddenly quitting.
“I am supporting [that plan]. Why? Because preparation has been made. They were trained. And the day of the actual elections was important. This is suffrage. This is the right to vote,” Abalos said.
“Think about it, just because of the act, we will be denying people [their] right to suffrage. That’s unthinkable…Unless, of course, there was a valid reason,” he added.
On Tuesday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) vowed to file criminal and administrative charges against teachers and cops who delayed the 2023 BSKE due to their sudden withdrawal from poll duties.
“It is a criminal offense and an administrative offense at the same time. We cannot just let it go because it will happen over and over again,” the Comelec chairperson, George Garcia, said
“It would be fine if you withdraw before election day because election service is not mandatory. But if you already trained, and we already spent for training, then on election day, you will withdraw from poll service. And worse, even the replacements also withdrew,” he added.
Garcia said about 2,530 teachers backed out of their voluntary election day service in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Asked what made even the police officers, the backup Board of Election Inspectors, also beg off, Garcia said the police said they were caught off guard by the sudden need to render election service.
The poll body chief, however, was not satisfied with the explanation.
“They said it was about a short amount of time. Yes, it was a short time, but we trained them for it,” Garcia said.
On Wednesday, Garcia said the Comelec may enter a data-sharing agreement with the Office of the Ombudsman to prevent persons with pending criminal cases or those who are perpetually disqualified from holding public office from filing their certificates of candidacy in future elections.
Garcia said without such information, the Comelec has on option to deny COCs to aspiring candidates.
“We can only reject the COCs of those who are over-age for Sangguniang Kabataan positions and individuals who have residency issues,” Garcia said in an interview on Dobol B TV.
He also said that persons can also be disqualified on other grounds such as citizenship issues and conviction by courts.
But Garcia said in the future elections, data-sharing agreements with other offices such as the Office of the Ombudsman are worth considering, because these would allow the poll body to access records of the court and decide immediately if aspirants will be allowed to file their COC.
“We can do this as long as we protect their privacy,” he added.
The Comelec observed that the recently concluded 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) that 11 COCs were canceled by the poll body because the aspirants were found to be perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
Also on Wednesday, the Comelec said almost all barangays have proclaimed winners in the Oct. 30 BSKE.
“We are 100 percent complete in voting and canvassing nationwide,” Garcia said.
Over 1 million candidates participated in the village and youth polls.
The poll body reported that some areas in the country have proclaimed winning candidates in the polls as early as Monday evening.
Garcia said that all the polling precincts were open, which means that there was no failure of elections reported in any part of the country.
Despite reports of election-related violence, Garcia had earlier declared this year’s BSKE “a victory of sorts,” saying that no election had ever been perfect.
The Comelec said 256 bets will face suspension of proclamation due to unresolved or pending cases before the poll body in the event that they win the elections.
“We will guarantee that there will be no vacuum of leadership in our villages,” Garcia said, adding “basic services should be delivered to the constituents in the barangay.”
He admitted that elections were delayed in some barangays due to security reasons and delays in the delivery of election paraphernalia. However, these were immediately addressed, he said.
The poll chief attributed the successful conduct of the polls to the vigilance of the public and also their partnership with other government agencies, such as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The DILG said it will be issuing a memorandum circular to allow a three-week transition period for the newly elected barangay and SK officials.
Garcia previously said the Comelec was coordinating with the DILG for a one-week proper turnover of equipment and resources.