CITY OF SAN FERNANDO- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Pampanga disclosed that the province has a total of 13, 735 official candidates for the barangay elections coming from the 505 villages.
Comelec Pampanga Supervisort Atty. Lydia Pangilinan said the Kapampangans are very much active in politics given the number of people who filed their certificate of candidacy (COC).
Based on data from the commission, 1486 are candidates for barangay captains and 12, 249 are running for kagawad or councilor. Approximately each village in the province has 3 or more candidates running for village chief.
Records also showed that the town of Mexico has the highest number of COCs filed with a total of 1,153 followed by Arayat with 1,090 candidates and Lubao with 1,005.
There are 1, 121, 693 registered voters in the province while polling centers are 493.
Pampanga Police Provincial Director Oscar Albayalde believed that the barangay election is more crucial compare to the national elections last May.
He said ideally 2 or more uniformed personnel should be deploy to each voting center to ensure peace and security of the public.
“People in the village are more concern to the barangay elections. The candidates are closer to the residents. Supporters of each candidate are neighbors. The tendency of clashes is very possible,” he said.
Commander Henry Sabarre, commander of the 703rd Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines vowed to augment additional personnel to help secure polling center.
Further, the PNP Pampanga has identified 62 barangays who are considered area of concern and 2 as immediate concern based on the election-related violence recorded in the past.
BY JENNA LUMBANG
