CEBU, Philippines — The town of Tuburan has the most number of Sangguniang Kabataan candidates who are overage according to the records from the Commission on Election (Comelec) in Cebu.
The town has 28 individuals who filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COC) for a SK position even if they are already beyond the age limit.
As a result, they are recommended for disqualification and their COCs will be voided once Comelec-Cebu Province receives the memorandum from Comelec en banc to disqualify them.
Tuburan is followed by the 2nd district of Cebu City with 21 candidates who are overage while the 1st district of Cebu City has 16; Lapu-Lapu City has 13 and the towns of Consolacion, Dalaguete and Minglanilla have 11 each.
On the other hand, the towns of Bantayan and San Remegio both have six aspirants who are underage and they are also recommended for disqualification.
Meanwhile, Tabuelan has the most number of aspirants who are deactivated voters while Oslob has six aspirants who are not registered voters.
Only 19 of the 53 local government units in Cebu have zero non-qualified aspirants who filed a COC.
This means that 57.6 percent of the cities and towns in Cebu Province have aspirants who still filed their COCs even if they know that they are not qualified to run for public office.
Provincial Election Officer Ferdinand Gujilde told reporters there are instances when the Election Officers noticed that candidates intentionally do not write their correct date of birth so they will meet the age requirement.
For SK, only those aged 18 to 24 years old are permitted to run.
Comelec has identified a total of 267 barangay and SK aspirants in Cebu Province, including Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City, who are recommended for disqualification.
Of the total number, 46 are not registered, 16 are deactivated voters, 171 are overage and 34 underage. —/MBG (FREEMAN)