EDITORIAL - Pressured to withdraw
After several postponements that the Supreme Court officially ruled to be unconstitutional, the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections are finally pushing through this Oct. 30. As in other electoral exercises, there are high hopes for change through the BSKE.
Change cannot happen, obviously, if challengers and their supporters are being harassed. The report that at least 122 candidates in the BSKE in Abra have withdrawn from the polls, reportedly due to pressure from their rivals, should be investigated by police and election officials. If left unchecked, this could become an ugly trend that can be carried over to the midterm elections in 2025 and on to the general elections in 2028.
The Commission on Elections and the Philippine National Police must find out who pressured the 122 candidates to withdraw from the BSKE race. Any rival candidate found to have resorted to this underhanded tactic must be disqualified, and prosecuted for violating elections laws. The Comelec and PNP must also make an active effort to determine how widespread this pernicious practice is across the country.
In previous elections, Abra had been classified under the so-called red category and placed under Comelec control. For the BSKE this year, however, the peace and order situation in the province has supposedly improved. Yet 44 teachers in the province, raising safety concerns, have begged off from election duties.
The teachers announced their move following a shootout between police and members of a suspected private armed group in the town of Bucay last week that left one suspect dead. With the teachers’ refusal to perform election duties, the Comelec is compelled to tap at least 74 PNP members for various poll duties for the Oct. 30 elections. The PNP is still studying whether the entire Abra or some parts of the province should be placed under Comelec control.
The integrity of elections is compromised when a person or group feels so entitled to an elective position that rivals are harassed and threatened into withdrawing, with the rivals’ supporters also intimidated. No one has a permanent deed of ownership for any position in government. The Comelec and advocates of clean
