With so many twists and turns, issues and concerns, attending last Monday's barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, any newspaper of consequence will have a hard time putting heads or tails together to come up with a good story. But with all the abundant facts and figures at hand, the skills of a “creative writer” (pun intended) are put to maximum use if only to give justice to different news dispatches coming from several sources who were trying to outsmart each other in order to present a chronicle of balance reporting vis-à-vis the recent political exercise. Starting with the twist angle, came this news item from Maribojoc, detailing a proxy war between perennial enemies Mayor Leoncio Evasco, Jr and former board member Jose Veloso in the fight for barangay captain in Poblacion of that town.

What made the match interesting was that Evasco rooted for a bet who is gay while Veloso fielded his own daughter, said to be a lesbian. It was an exciting match, what with its gender undertones, but in the end it was Evasco's bet who emerged the winner sending in the process the chilling message that one should not mess up with an incumbent as a backer. The Maribojoc cliffhanger was part of another human interest story in another setting involving the SK elections. The recent youth vote was marred with this startling revelation that at least nine SK chairs in seven municipalities where the contestants posted identical scores or a dead heat.

According to partial reports from the Comelec, there were draws for barangay captains in Anda town, seven identical scores for kagawads in San Miguel town. But pending release of the summary of winners, the poll body did not identify what are these barangays since the respective municipal Comelec offices have yet to finally submit the election returns. On barangay captains, two ties were reported in the municipalities of Mabini and President Carlos P, Garcia while six draws for barangay kagawads in the towns of Anda. Calape, Danao, Jagna, Maribojoc and Trinidad. There were three unprecedented draws for SK chairmanship in the municipality of Dauis and seven posts for barangay kagawad were also contested on account of another logjam. Except for Anda town, all other reports of deadlocks for SK and barangay chair and kagawad races have yet to be resolved while some have already been declared winners. The Comelec usually resolved the draws, not by conducting special election, but by toss coin as provided for in the Election Code.

KUDOS TO THE WINNERS

The issue of concern focused on Gov. Edgar Chatto calling on newly-elected officials “to prove your worth”. In congratulating the winners, the governor challenged them to prove their worth and not frustrate those who voted them. “Because it is understood that your victory had the support of the people, it is just right to repay their trust with capability, diligence and sincerity,” the governor told the winners of Monday's elections otherwise marred by ballot delays and other glitches. Chatto however said, too, that the challenge was not just aimed at the barangay and SK election winners “but at all of us upon whom is bestowed the people's mandate toward responsive and effective service.”

ELECTION SABOTAGE?

But the last election was not without its share of ‘turns' as in the case of reports involving sabotage. This prompted Sangguniang Panlalawigan Floorleader Cesar Tomas “Yul” Lopez to push for an investigation on the delay of arrivals of ballots and election paraphernalia during the just concluded elections. “This we have to investigate since many of our constituents have aired their concerns on what really happened on that election wherein many of them were not able to vote,” board member Lopez told his colleagues in the SP during its regular session last Friday. In unanimous approval of the motion brought out by the board member from the first district, the SP, presided by senior board member Dionisio Balite agreed to tackle the issue through a committee as a whole; which means the whole sanggunian will conduct the investigation.

Last Monday, as early as 6:00 AM, reports have reached radio stations about the unusually delayed delivery of election paraphernalia, which were made available only at 4:00 dawn on election day. Some suspected as “sabotage” as the delayed delivery caused late start of the poll opening. City Comelec registrar, lawyer Ariel Selma said he would be a willing witness in ay investigation if only to prove that the Comelec has nothing to do with the allegations or suspicion of a deliberate act to favor some candidates. In Tagbilaran City, most precincts opened late at around 9:00 in the moring but by lunchtime, several polling places have already ran out of ballots. According to Provincial Comelec Supervisor lawyer Eliseo Labaria, the city needs 47,858 ballots but only 39,244 of these arrived [from Manila].

Of these, 33,900 were included in the delivery's first batch. He added that the city accordingly waited for the 7,800 remaining ballots for the second batch of deliveries, which was expected at around 11 AM. On early Monday morning radio interview, Atty. Selma said the office of the City Treasurer told him that the office is still awaiting the 7,800 ballots to be delivered to city precincts. However, Provincial Comelec supervisor Labaria, made a check and found out that “ballots were already” at the City Treasurer's Office and were just waiting for delivery. Labaria immediately ordered the delivery of the same while his team rounded precincts around 3:00 to collect extra ballots to be used in other polling precincts.

Because of this, many supporters of candidates accused the City Hall of sabotaging the elections by withholding ballots, one which the city government has vehemently denied. In the meantime, polling has to be temporarily suspended in precincts without ballots, while Board of Election Tellers (BET) of concerned precincts allegedly announced polls to continue as soon as the remaining ballots are delivered. The delay ignited unrest in several precincts as tempers rose. Some impatient voters went home. Over the controversy, voters who were not able to vote demanded from the Comelec a probe to determine culpability. Labaria has also hinted that an investigation would be appropriate to determine as to who would be held responsible for such mess.

SK ABOLITION

When reports of the recent SK elections filtered that they were marred with insinuations of vote buying, kidnapping and other dirty tactics, a strong clamor to abolish the youth sector in mainstream politics snowballed from different quarters. One group that joined the call to abolish the SK was the League of Municipalities, Bohol chapter. LMP-Bohol president Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy of Loay town was quoted in a report as saying she was in favor of scrapping the SK. The report, however, did not say if her support for SK abolition was an official pronouncement or her personal view. This writer tried but failed to contact her for confirmation but to no avail yesterday. The report said that Imboy wanted that the SK or youthshould stay away from “dirty” politics so that they will not learn corruption while being young.

She proposed that the youth should be appointed by the local chief executive instead of by election. Another advocate of the SK's elimination from the political landscape was City Mayor Dan Neri-Lim. “I am 100% in favor of the move to abolish the SK,” he said. His reaction came after the pronouncement of the DILG of abolishing the SK because it has not addressed the youth concerns. “Most of the time, the SK president is either the children, relatives or political supporters of the mayors and governors,” the mayor said. In Bohol, a lot of SK federated presidents are children of the municipal mayors and other political figures of the locality. Commissioner Benjie Oliva of the National Youth Commission bats for the SK reform.

“The National Youth Commission unanimously approved En Banc Resolution No. 65 series of 2010 entitled, “Resolution Urging the Congress of the Philippines for the passage of the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Bill before holding any SK elections in the country”, he has introduced and sponsored. Oliva, is the chairman of the Committee on Values and Integrity Development of NYC. The Sangguniang Kabataan was created by virtue of Republic Act (RA) No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 whose objectives are to tap the energy, enthusiasm, and idealism of young people ages 15-17 years old for grassroots development and to provide a venue for youth participation in local governance, said Oliva in his press statement sent to the Freeman. Oliva cited as reason for the needed SK reform the findings of the University of the Philippines-Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP-CIDS).

Among the analyses of the study included the following: “SK falls short in carrying out their legislative functions; SK projects mostly revolve around sports and culture, environment, and infrastructure and fail to address the real and pressing problems of children and young people that pertain to education, livelihood, and drug abuse; SK fails to submit annual and end-of-term reports which lead to non-monitoring of their projects and programs, hence, the effectiveness of their projects are seldom gauged; youth consultation and coordination with community members are often done; and a little youth involvement in program planning and implementation.” For her part, SK National federated president Jane Censoria del Rosario Cajes, daughter of former Rep. Roberto Cajes, who is now Trinidad mayor, also favored for the proposed SK reform instead of abolishing it altogether. Cajes, who was guest of the “Rundown” program over ANC channel hosted by veteran newshen Ces Orena-Drilon Monday night, admitted that corruption among the SKs occurred at some point. She blamed politicians for using the youth for politicking.