The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Tuesday that the start of the election period for the barangay (local community) and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) (Youth Council) polls on October 30 was quite impressive.
On the very first day of filing, which was Monday, thousands of people who were hopeful to get elected turned in their application papers called certificates of candidacy (COC).
According to the information provided by Comelec, a total of 273,454 individuals applied by submitting their COCs to compete for one of the 672,000 available positions in the 42,000 communities known as barangays across the Philippines.
Among these applicants, 21,657 are aiming for the role of barangay chairperson, while 143,638 are vying to become members of the sangguniang barangay (barangay council).
Additionally, 17,085 individuals are competing for the SK chairmanship, and 91,074 people are interested in securing a position within the SK council.
Garcia mentioned that except for a couple of incidents, the beginning of the election period has been peaceful and without issues.
So far, there have been four instances of violence related to the elections.
In the capital region, Metro Manila, the police have seized 6 firearms and 17 dangerous weapons as part of the ongoing ban on carrying weapons during the election period. Most of these weapons were discovered during checkpoint operations.
Moreover, the police reported that ten individuals have been arrested for various offenses related to the election period.
Source: PhilNews24 | August 30, 2023
