Bets told: Immediate family only

Castillano appeals to supporters to stay outside Comelec office during filing of COCs

ASPIRING candidates who will file their certificates of candidacy (COCs) next week are encouraged to just bring their immediate family members inside the Comelec offices, said Provincial Election Supervisor (PES) Lionel Marco Castillano.

This, as Castillano said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc already approved a resolution for the creation of additional elective seats in Cebu’s seventh district.

He said his office is just waiting for a copy of the resolution.

In a report by Rappler.com, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista announced that only three guests can accompany a national candidate during the filing of COC from Oct. 12 to 16.

In Cebu, Castillano said he will leave it to the Comelec field officers to decide how many family members allowed to accompany a candidate considering that most of its field offices have small spaces.

“Di man pud na pwede na manulod sila tanan kung usa na kabaryonhan (It is unlikely that all supporters could get inside). We would prefer that it would be the candidate and his immediate family that should be allowed to go inside because just like in our office, they would not be all accommodated due to limited space,” Castillano told reporters.

Castillano believes that this policy is most likely to be applied in the main office to prevent commotions.

Based on the previous elections, he said it did not happen that all the supporters of a candidate are allowed to get inside the Comelec field offices or at the Office of PES during the filing of COC.

Castillano said that if a candidate decides to bring several supporters, then they should just stay outside while the candidate files his or her COC.

Castillano said he had sent a letter to Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Noel Gillamac to deploy police officers as security force to Comelec field offices from Monday to Friday next week.

Registration

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council requested all barangays to provide all forms of assistance to ensure that firsttime voters can register with the Comelec on or before Oct. 31, the last day of registration.

In a privilege speech yesterday, Councilor Alvin Dizon also moved to urge all the barangays, colleges, universities, student and youth organizations in the city to intensify the information dissemination to encourage first-time voters to register and participate in the 2016 elections.

Offices of the student councils and student affairs are encouraged to set up help desks to assist the first-time voters.

Dizon said that based on the Comelec data, there are an estimated three million first-time voters in the country for next year’s polls.

In the 2013 elections, there were 53 million registered voters and majority of them were within the 18-35 bracket.

Of the figure, around 17 million are youth voters.

“The right of suffrage, which is a constitutionally guaranteed right, may only be exercised during the elections by citizens who registered in accordance with law. Thus, it is crucial to ensure that the three million first-time voters will be given ample opportunity to register so they can vote next year,” Dizon said.

The voters’ registration has been set until Oct. 31, but it will be temporarily suspended on Oct. 12 to 16 to give way for the filing of COCs.