BSKE: Day of reckoning for 42,001 barangays

Polling precincts will open at 7 a.m. and close by 3 p.m. today as 42,001 posts for village captains and youth leaders in as many barangays in the Philippines are contested in the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

The winning barangay captains and SK chairpersons will each have a complement of seven council members, all elective barangay officials, as well.

A total of 828,644 candidates are running for barangay chairpersons and kagawads, according to the Commission on Elections.

On Sunday's eve of the BSKE, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting sent off about 250,000 to 300,000 volunteers tasked to monitor the electoral exercise nationwide.

PPCRV national coordinator Arwin Serrano said they are still trying to find volunteers for some areas they cannot monitor. The group held a mass for its volunteers.

"We have various areas that we can't monitor. I'm sad because of this," Serrano said of the group accredited by the Comelec as an election watchdog.

As early as last Friday, Philippine National Police chief, General Benjamin Acorda Jr., said that it is "all systems go" for the security preparations of the BSKE.

Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. on Sunday reminded the candidates to comply with all election regulations, especially on the number of watchers they'd employ.

He said having more than two watchers per precinct would be construed as vote-buying under Section 25 of Comelec Resolution 10946.

As observed by the Comelec in past elections, candidates hide the vote buying by hiring many poll watchers who then offer money for votes surreptitiously.

Based on Comelec's observation, Abalos said that some candidates' style is to hide the vote buying by hiring many pretenders to serve as poll watchers.

"We ask the public to be observant and to report to the Comelec or the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) if they notice any precinct teeming with poll watchers," he said.

"We will investigate these incidents and take proper action," he added.

Abalos warned that under Section 264 of the Omnibus Election Code, candidates caught buying votes may be imprisoned for up to six years and barred from ever holding any public office.