TACLOBAN CITY- The regional Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that more than 114,600 have filed their candidacies for both barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
The poll body, however, has yet to come up with a data as to how many of these candidates are sure winners for having no opponents.
Lawyer Jose Nick Mendros, Comelec regional director, said that based on their data, a total of 114,665 candidates are in the running for the barangay and SK elections scheduled on May 14 in the region.
For village chairpersons, 8,578 have filed their certificates of candidacy (CoCs) for the 4,390 posts up for grabs while 61,473 have filed their CoCs for the 30,730 positions needed for the barangay councilors.
Meantime, 8,168 youths have filed their certificates of candidacy for SK chairs while 36,446 are seeking for the SK council seats.
The filing of the certificates of candidacy started on April 14 and ended on April 21.
Of the six provinces of the region, Leyte which has 1,641 barangays, has the biggest number of candidates-3,301 filed for village chairmen and 23,528 for councilors while 3,180 for SK chairmen and 13,634 for youth council.
Biliran, which has only 132 barangays, has the least number of candidates-265 for village chairs and 2,084 for councilors and 272 for SK chairmen and 1,387 for councilors.
Southern Leyte has 926 candidates for barangay chairmen and 6,819 for councilors while 884 are in the running for SK chairmen and 3,756 as councilors.
In Samar, 1,749 have filed their CoCs for chairmen and 12,580 for councilors while about 1,658 are running for SK chairmen and 7,786 for councilors.
In Eastern Samar, 1,241 have filed their CoCs for barangay chairmen and 8,464 for councilors. Meantime, 1,144 have their CoCs for SK chairmen and 4,402 for SK chairmen and in Northern Samar, 1,096 are in contention for village chairs and 7,998 for councilors and about 1,030 for SK chairmen and 5,481 for youth councilors.
Meantime, Mendros said that they could not say yet as to how many of these candidates are sure to win for lack of rivals.
“We have not yet analyze our data as to who among these candidates are sure to win because they don’t have rivals,” he said.
He, however, said that all positions that are for grab in the village and SK elections have been filled up.
“Though there instances that not all slate have been filled up,” Mendros said.
For these elections, voters for both barangay and SK elections are to elect a chairman and seven councilors. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
