Comelec: Nearly all barangay, SK poll winners already proclaimed

Almost all winning candidates in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections held during the past three days have already been proclaimed, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday. Director Divina Blas-Perez of the Comelec’s Elections and Barangay Affairs Department told GMANews.TV in a text message that as of 9 a.m. Thursday, 96.25 percent of all barangays in the country which held elections in the past three days have already elected new officials. She added that aside from Isabela towns affected by super typhoon “Juan" last week and areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where there are threats of election-related violence, “almost all" barangays have already concluded their polls despite the delays. Grassroots polls in 2,460 of the 42,025 barangays in the country were postponed Monday, primarily due to the delay in the delivery of election materials. (See: Barangay, SK polls postponed in 1,732 villages) Some 2,252 barangays elected grassroots officials on Tuesday, while about 160 others conducted polls on Wednesday, according to Comelec. The Comelec created on Tuesday a fact-finding body to look into the causes of the delays in the deliveries of election paraphernalia in these areas, which resulted in the postponement of polls. (See: Comelec to probe poll delays in 2,460 barangays) Based on Republic Act 9340, the three-year terms of the barangay and SK officials elected during Monday’s polls will start at noon of November 30. Ties Blas-Perez explained that the remaining barangays which have not yet proclaimed winners in the polls might still be settling ties, especially in the positions of barangay and SK councilors. “’Yung ibang areas, although na-proclaim na ‘yung iba, sinesettle pa ‘yung ibang ties, lalo na sa kagawad at SK na madalas nagkaka-tie," she said. (In other areas, although some have been proclaimed, others are locked in a tie especially for barangay council and SK posts, and these are still being settled.) The poll official added that it is “not unusual" for ties to occur during grassroots polls, since there are only few voters at the barangay level. In a barangay in Siargao Island in Surigao City, for example, election officers settled a tie between two candidates for barangay chair through a toss coin. (See: Coin toss settles Siargao barangay chair race) Section 240 of the Omnibus Election Code provides for the drawing of lots in case two or more candidates are tied with the highest number of votes, with the luck-favored candidate to be proclaimed winner. The Comelec is still in the process of determining the voters’ turnout during the recently concluded grassroots polls, according to Blas-Perez. Each barangay has the authority, through its Barangay Boards of Canvassers, to proclaim the winners once the canvassing of votes is completed. Since no pre-proclamation protests are allowed, no major source of delays in proclamation are expected once the votes are counted, except for settling tied votes and a recent Comelec decision ordering election officers not to proclaim fourth-termer barangay officials because they are deemed disqualified from running for reelection.—JV, GMANews.TV