Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo on Monday said he is supporting calls for the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in the whole province of Negros Oriental that is scheduled in October this year.
The Mayor was guest speaker during the Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City, which was also live-streamed through social media.
He said he has yet to bring up the matter to the Commission on Elections, although he said he has coordinated with and suggested the matter to Sen. Francis Tolentino, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms.
“I was suggesting to him…and he told me that whatever Resolutions I have from the ground I should present to the Comelec,” the Dumaguete Mayor said.
He added that he was also monitoring the Senate hearings on the Roel Degamo assassination, and the other killings in Negros Oriental, where it was mentioned that the Comelec is willing to hold a public hearing on the possible deferment of the BSK elections in the Province.
“I am in favor [of a postponement] for one reason: I am not yet confident that the tension [in the Province] has subsided,” the Mayor said. “ I believe that historically, barangay elections are more intense, there are more election-related crimes, and people are very emotional,” he added, referring to the March 4 attack at the residence of Negros Oriental Governor Degamo in Pamplona town, where he and nine others were killed.
The barangay elections, including the polls for Sangguniang Kabataan representatives, are supposedly non-partisan but that in reality, they are, the Mayor lamented.
Despite the tension and calls to postpone the incoming polls, the Mayor insisted that the capital City and the Province, in general, are peaceful and safe for both locals and tourists alike.
In fact, he said, the City had just recently hosted two huge events, an annual convention which was attended by over 5,000 FreeMasons from around the country, and the annual Dumaguete Triathlon that had hundreds of participants from all over the Philippines and abroad. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
