• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A total of 2,701,740 Negrenses are expected to cast their votes during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Negros Occidental, according to records of the Commission on Elections.
Comelec records further indicated that of the total, 2,035,554 are regular voters, while the remaining 666,186 are youth, or Sangguniang Kabataan voters.
Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria reported that 50 percent of the 4,143,888 voters in Negros Island Region, are residents of Negros Occidental
Of the 78,000 voter applicants during the recently concluded registration from August 1 to 10, which included new voter registrants and SK, Ananoria said that about 40,000 were approved by Comelec.
The Comelec originally scheduled the synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on December 1 this year. However, it was rescheduled to November the following year, following the passage and approval of RA 12232 that postponed the BSKE.
Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec regional director for NIR, said the poll body is awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on a petition from some sectors seeking to declare the law postponing the BSKE as unconstitutional.
Pending the SC ruling, Castillano said they will continue preparing for the BSKE, in case it is held on Dec. 1 this year.*
