Barangay, SK elections will go as scheduled – COMELEC

Kalibo, Aklan –Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will go as scheduled if there are no laws approved and passed to reset the elections.

This was the latest statement from the Provincial COMELEC Office here, issued by OIC Provincial Election Supervisor Lorena Tumbagahan in a press conference she called for the local media here recently.

Tumbagahan said that as part of preparing for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, the COMELEC is having a special registration of voters for the political exercise, scheduled on July 15-22.

Tumbagahan said all municipal offices in Aklan will be open on these dates to accept registrants, from 8:00 to 12:00 in the morning and from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.

For SK, a registrant must be 15 years old but below 18, a Filipino citizen and a resident of the place where he is voting for six months. If he turns 15 several days before October 29, or the day itself, the day of the election, he will be allowed to register.

For those going to vote in the barangay elections, a registrant should be a resident of the Philippines for one year and has resided in the area where he is going to vote for six months, according to Tumbagahan.

COMELEC –Aklan anticipates that many people will still register for the barangay and SK elections and expects lots of transferees just within the province.

The holding of the barangay and SK elections on October 29, 2007 is mandated under RA No. 9340, which was enacted to reset the supposed-to-be barangay elections 3 years after 2002.

Republic Act No. 9340, enacted September 22, 2005 resetting the Barangay and SK elections spells that under this act, the subsequent synchronized elections after the initial one held on July 15, 2002 is rescheduled on the last Monday of October 2007 and every three (3) years thereafter.

Under the republic act, the term of office of said officials elected in the October 2007 election and subsequent elections shall commence at noon of November 30 next following their election. (PIA/Venus G. Villanueva)