Barangay polls postponed in 3 Isabela towns due to 'Juan'

Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in three Isabela towns severely hit by super typhoon Juan will be suspended, Commission on Elections Chairman Jose Armando Melo said Wednesday. The polls in the coastal municipalities of Divilacan, Palanan, and Maconacon will be rescheduled to next month, Melo said after his meeting with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Camp Aguinaldo. Melo did not give a specific date, but said the elections in the three towns would likely be done within 15 days after the nationwide polls on Oct. 25. Under the law, the poll body is given 30 days to hold special elections in cases of failure or suspension of polls. “If everything will be okay, it (elections) may be held within 15 days. Otherwise, it will be toward the end of November," Melo said. The three towns were among the four Isabela towns earlier reported to be isolated due to the devastation from typhoon Juan. As Dinapigue did not sustain as much damage as the three other towns, elections there will proceed on Oct. 25 as scheduled. “The report (from the NDRRMC) is that the towns are inaccessible. More than the damage to infrastructure, it is the fact that the people are busy trying to fix their homes, (and looking for) where to get their food," Melo said. The poll body chief said he is happy with this development. “The picture is bright because the entire north was hit by typhoon Juan. We will only postpone elections in the three municipalities," he said. Juan has so far claimed 11 lives, injured 20 people, and destroyed over P1 billion worth of rice and corn crops in Regions I, II, III and the Cordillera Administrative Region. Officials have said Isabela was the worst hit among all the provinces in northern Luzon. Elections in other parts of Isabela and in the provinces of Cagayan, Kalinga, and Apayao - which still have no electricity - will end an hour earlier than the regular schedule. “We will hold the elections (in these provinces) 6 a.m. up to 2 p.m. so they will have time for the counting," said Melo. Relief work not campaigning Reacting to reports that barangay officials were campaigning by distributing relief goods, Melo said the poll body cannot prevent officials from distributing relief goods to their affected constituents as it would be hard to distinguish whether the officials were merely helping their constituents or campaigning. “It is up to the people to judge if these candidates are taking advantage of the situation to convince the people to vote for them," he said. “We’d like to look at things from a brighter side," said Melo. - AOL/DM/YA, GMANews.TV