5,000 BSKE bets ordered to explain poll violations

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered over 5,000 candidates in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) to explain their alleged violations.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that as of Oct. 6, the poll body has issued show-cause orders to a total of 5,169 BSKE candidates.

“Of the candidates given show-cause orders, 1,132 have already submitted their explanations,” Garcia said.

The poll chief also said that upon initial assessment, the number of disqualification cases is at 203.

He said the Comelec dropped 347 complaints for lack of basis. This developed after the Comelec Anti-Epal Task Force also filed on Friday petitions for disqualification against 10 candidates for premature campaigning.

The Committee on Kontra Bigay also filed disqualification cases against five candidates involved in vote buying. This brings to a total of 87 the number of disqualification cases filed by Comelec against erring candidates.

Earlier, Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco explained that unless able to obtain a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court, the disqualified candidates will not be allowed to run in the elections. Votes in their favor will not be counted and considered stray.

“If they could not secure a temporary restraining order within five days, the Commission’s resolution (for disqualification) will be final and executory and we will remove them from the list of candidates,” he said.

Laudiangco likewise said the Comelec prioritized the filing of disqualification petitions over the criminal cases, so that erring bets would be removed from the official list of candidates.