Bataan’s no-read, no-write kagawad stumps DILG

"How can a newly elected municipal councilor perform his job when he cannot read and write?"

This was the question raised by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. yesterday after a concerned citizen from Dinalupihan, Bataan want the DILG to dismiss a newly elected Sangguniang Bayan member who cannot read and write.

The complaint against the illiterate member of the municipal council was aired during the weekly radio program of Lina over radio station dzMM.

According to the report, the kagawad cannot read simple letters, cannot write his name and that documents for his signature are being sent to his home where somebody reads the documents and signs them for him.

The kagawad, whose identity was withheld pending investigation according to the report, won in the May 14 elections despite his being illiterate.

Joselito Placides, DILG legal officer, said the law provides that only literate registered voters are qualified to become members of the municipal council.

Placides, however, said the determination on the qualification of a candidate to run for elective post is the sole authority of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The DILG lawyer added that the Comelec might have already lost jurisdiction over the case because the 10-day prescription period to disqualify a candidate has already lapsed and the illiterate kagawad has already assumed his post as member of the municipal council.

Lina directed the DILG legal services to study the case and determine on how to deal with the "no-read, no-write" kagawad.

Among the illiterate members of the cultural communities, the usual practice is to affix their thumbmark on the document as replacement of the signature.

It was not known, however, if the kagawad uses his thumbmark in signing documents in the past.