Barangay captain charged for electioneering
LINGAYEN–A barangay captain in Aguilar town was charged on April 16 for electioneering before the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) provincial office here.
Charged was Arturo Posadas Sr, barangay captain of Bocboc East, Aguilar in a complaint filed by one Janet Abalos, a barangay resident.
In her complaint-letter dated April 16, 2019 addressed to DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, she said that on April 6 between 9:00-10:00 a.m., Posadas “unlawfully, illegally, maliciously and wantonly engaged in partisan political activity for electioneering by openly, actively and aggressively campaigning for and promoting the candidacy of mayoralty candidate Betty Ballesteros and her team in the Municipality of Aguilar.”
It added that on the same date in the company of his followers, accompanied Ballesteros and her whole team “going house-to-house campaign and solicit votes in favor of the team, in utter violation of the Constitution, the Local Government Code of 1991 and the Omnibus Election Code.”
Abalos attached to her complaint separate affidavits of two witnesses, computer print-out showing the unlawful acts of the respondent and a record of the partisan activities of the respondent placed in a flash drive.
DILG OIC-Provincial Director Randy Dela Rosa said in an interview that it was the first such complaint received by his office in an election.
He said he will inform the regional director about the complaint which in turn is expected to be sent the DILG central office that will investigate the allegation.
Citing a joint circular from the Commission on Elections and the Civil Service Commission, Dela Rosa said barangay officials are indeed, prohibited campaign for or against a certain candidate. He said a copy of the circular to the barangays has been circulated.
“So generally they should not be performing partisan political activities,” he said.
He added that based on interview of national DILG officials about this matter, “barangay officials should know that they should not get involved in partisan political activities”.
He said there are sanctions for violators. “They might be dismissed, depending on the findings,” he said. (PhilStar Wire Service)
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