Tolentino lauds Comelec's swift decision to delay COC filing period for barangay polls
March 22, 2023
Tolentino lauds Comelec's swift decision to delay COC filing period for barangay polls
MANILA - Senator Francis 'TOL' N. Tolentino on Wednesday lauded the decision of Commission on Elections to delay the scheduled period for the filing of certificate of candidacies (COC) of those running in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) later this year.
In a statement, Tolentino said the swift decision of the poll body to grant the request to reschedule the filing period for BSKE candidate on a much later date will not only help the local government units (LGUs) perform well but will also help prevent election-related violence since "it will lessen early politicking."
"The poll body's decision will allow our local government units to perform their respective functions without any compromise or restrictions--construction ban, etc," said Tolentino, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People's Participation.
The Comelec en banc on Wednesday approved the letter request filed by Tolentino and reset the filing period of COCs for BSKE candidates from July 3 -7 to August 28-September 2, 2023.
According to Tolentino, it is only just and fair to adjust the time frame of the filing period considering that BSKE will be held during the last week of October 2023 and since the law only prescribed a 10-day campaign period when electing barangay and youth leaders.
Tolentino earlier stressed that having the COC filing period done in July will only "burden the local government units (LGUs)" due to election-related restrictions enshrined under the Omnibus Election Code, adding that having an early filing period will only "entail" the administrative expenses of the Philippine National Police (PNP) as the security checkpoints will be extended for additional days.
