Majority of Barangay and SK special poll winners, proclaimed

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Education and Information Chief James Jimenez announced today that winning Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) bets in the majority of areas where special polls were held last Saturday, have been proclaimed.

He said that based on initial field reports gathered by his office, special elections were “generally peaceful” and that no untoward incidences took place in the affected Barangays.

Jimenez reported that winning candidates in the recently concluded special polls were immediately proclaimed in the affected Barangay and SK precincts in Pasay City, Abra, Masbate, Northern Samar, Lanao del Norte, Buadiposo-Buntong and Taraka in Lanao del Sur.

He also noted that in the province of Sulu, all affected precincts functioned and that no failure of elections occurred. Jimenez lauded election officials and the citizens there for “refusing to bow down to terrorist threats and intimidation and persevered towards attaining a peaceful special polls.”

Days before the December 15 special elections, a bomb rocked the COMELEC Office in Patikul, Sulu and the house of Provincial Elections Supervisor Julie Vidzfar.

Jimenez however said that according to initial reports, out of more than 200 Barangays in Lanao del Sur, more than 30 failed to function. “This number is up from reports gathered over the weekend, but we are still in the process of verifying all claims of failure” he said.

The poll body has earlier pegged to 370 the number of Barangays nationwide that failed to conduct elections during the October 29, 2007 Barangay and SK polls. ###