Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 30) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte cast their votes for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), also calling on registered Filipinos to participate in the polls.
Marcos voted early for the barangay elections in Batac City, Ilocos Norte. He arrived at the Mariano Marcos Memorial Elementary School just minutes after the polls opened on Monday.
According to the Palace, the chief executive voted for one barangay chairman and seven barangay councilors.
After voting, Marcos spoke to members of the media where he said that it was important to participate in the barangay elections.
“What happens here, the results of the barangay elections today are going to have an effect on the results of the midterm elections,” he said.
“That’s why, sa aming [in our] assessment, minsan nagiging mainit ang elections dahil talagang crucial ‘yan [the elections can get heated because they are really crucial],” Marcos added.
In a separate post, Duterte was also seen casting her vote at the Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School in Davao City.
Duterte also said the elections at the barangay level are important.
“Mahalaga ang papel na ginagampanan ng ating mga opisyal sa barangay sapagkat sila ang nasa unang antas ng pamamahala sa gobyerno na maaring magbigay tulong at solusyon sa mga problemang kinakaharap natin sa community level,” she said.
[Translation: The role played by our barangay officials is important because they are the first level of government management who can provide help and solutions to the problems we face at the community level.]
She also called for clean and peaceful elections.
Vote buying
Reacting to reports of rampant vote buying, Marcos said that while authorities and the Commission on Elections were on top of the situation, he still urged Filipinos not to sell their votes.
“Last night there were some reports, even here in Ilocos Norte may mga umiikot na namimili ng boto para dito sa barangay election,” he said.
[Translation: Last night there were some reports, even here in Ilocos Norte, there were people going around buying votes for this barangay election.]
“So, we will do our part, as a government, we will do our part to continue to enforce all of the laws that do not allow the use of vote buying as a part of the campaign,” Marcos added.
In a briefing, Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said those slapped with complaints over premature and illegal campaigning, and vote buying already reached more than 200.
The Commission on Elections said there were more than 91 million registered voters in over 42,000 barangays across the country.
