Comelec issues show cause order to 245 Pangasinan BSKE bets

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued a total of 245 show cause orders to Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) candidates in the province of Pangasinan over alleged premature campaigning and vote buying.

Lawyer Marino Salas, Comelec Pangasinan provincial election supervisor, said a high percentage of the candidates who were issued show cause order have already responded within the three-day period given to them.

"Most of the concerned candidates were under SK and their violation was alleged premature campaigning while the rest were due to vote buying allegations," he told journalists in an interview Tuesday.

Salas said 230 of the violations are alleged premature campaigning while the remaining 15 are alleged vote buying.

No candidates have been disqualified yet but Salas said the agency's Task Force Anti-Epal continues to review the candidates' responses.

"The Commission targets to come up with the decision before the Election Day on Oct. 30 this year," he said, but pointed out that even if the candidates win and are proclaimed, they will still be disqualified once found guilty of violating election rules.

Salas reiterated that premature campaigning and vote buying are grounds for disqualifying a candidate from the elections and holding government post.

Meanwhile, the inter-agency Committee on Kontra Bigay (CKB or Committee Against Giving), a committee formed through Comelec Resolution No. 10946 to accept reports on vote buying and vote-selling, was launched on Tuesday.

CKB members include the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, Philippine Information Agency, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Anti-Money Laundering Council, Public Attorney's Office, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Law Schools and Comelec-accredited citizens' arms.

Salas urged the public to report to the Comelec or the police any form of vote buying or vote selling.

He said vote buying does not only cover giving out money but also distributing anything that has value like goods or commitment to provide coupons that voters can swap for assistance or any goods.

However, Salas reminded complainants to present evidence for the allegations.

In a separate interview, Ilocos Police Regional Office (PRO) director, Brig. Gen. John Chua, said they have assigned two personnel in each station in the region to monitor and address online vote buying allegations.

"We are living in a virtual world where vote buying transactions could be done online," he said.

Chua also urged the chiefs of police to conduct information drive against cybercrimes in their localities.

The BSKE campaign period will begin on Oct. 19 and will last until Oct. 28, two days before the Oct. 30 elections.

Pangasinan has 2.1 million registered regular voters and 788,900 SK voters.

There are 57,746 candidates from the province's 1,364 villages. (PNA)