Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20) — Negros Oriental Governor Guido Reyes is open to a state of emergency declaration or suspension of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) amid political tensions in the province.
“It should be seriously and carefully studied by the commission. Although admittedly, we have the power to postpone the election in an area,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said Thursday.
Under the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, Comelec has the jurisdiction to set the schedule of the postponed or failed election.
The new schedule must be “reasonably close to the original date of the election, and must not exceed thirty days after the cessation of the cause of failure or postponement,” the poll body said.
“Indeed the dire state of the peace and order situation in the province, now uncovered in the halls of the Senate of the Philippines, is something which requires an urgent but calibrated approach,” Reyes said Thursday.
“The province will stand by with whatever decision the president will have on the matter, even when this will require some form of a localized declaration of state of emergency or suspension of the barangay and SK elections, as suggested by the good senators,” he added.
On the third day of the Senate inquiry on the assassination of Reyes’ predecessor, Roel Degamo, Sen. Francis Tolentino proposed to postpone the upcoming BSKE in the province.
“Kung i-postpone po iyon, magkakaroon ng mas malakas na momentum ang ating peacekeeping forces,” he said.
[Translation: If the elections are postponed, we will have stronger momentum in our peacekeeping forces.]
However, the proposal should be carefully studied first, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
