As expected, not too many aspirants in Negros Oriental for the upcoming barangay polls on October 28 turned up on the first day of filing of certificates of candidacy on Friday.
Initial and partial records received by the provincial office of the Commission on Elections showed that for the position of punong barangay, 170 wanna-be’s filed their COCs in 19 towns and cities in Negros Oriental.
For the position of kagawad, 1,607 have so far filed their COCs on the first day of filing.
Except for Sibulan, Tanjay, Bindoy, Jimalalud, La Libertad, and the flood-stricken Bayawan City, the rest of the towns and cities in Negros Oriental have initially submitted a report to the provincial COMELEC office on Friday.
The municipality of Mabinay topped the list with 25 aspirants filing their COCs for punong barangay and 264 for the position of kagawad.
As of late Friday, the cities and towns with candidates for barangay chair and barangay councilors who filed their COCs are:
Canlaon City, nine for punong barangay and 95 for kagawad; Valencia, seven and 47, respectively; Vallehermoso, eight and 67, respectively; Amlan, three and 29, respectively; Mabinay, 25 and 264, respectively; Siaton, seven and 62, respectively; Basay, four and 38, respectively; Ayungon, 24 and 161, respectively;
Sta. Catalina, 13 and 123, respectively; Zamboanguita, one and three, respectively; Tayasan, 13 and 92, respectively; San Jose, three and 24, respectively; Dumaguete City, 10 and 141, respectively; Pamplona, five and 44, respectively; Bais City, 18 and 190, respectively; Guihulngan City, 14 and 129, respectively; Manjuyod, 16 and 118, respectively; Bacong, one and 17, respectively; and Dauin, three and 18, respectively.
Negros Oriental has a total of 557 barangays with the total number of registered voters for both the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls pegged at 854,928.
Of the number, 799,275 are registered for the barangay elections while 55,653 youths have registered for this year’s SK polls, COMELEC records show.
No data was available yet at the provincial COMELEC office on how many aspirants for the SK elections have registered on Friday.
Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Eddie Aba has repeatedly called on the candidates to file their COCs as early as possible to avoid last minute hitches.
The poll body has declared the period for the filing of COCs from October 11 to 17, with the campaign period set Oct. 18 to 26.
No reports so far of untoward incidents on the first day of COCs filing have reached the provincial COMELEC office on Friday. (PNA)
