With four months left before the filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC) for the Barangay and SK Elections this October 2023, the Commission on Elections last week gave notice that its field offices will now be authorized to reject outright aspiring candidates who are either overaged, underaged or not registered voters of the barangay where they are seeking to run.
The election body seeks to avoid a repeat of the previous village elections where it filed 6,000 cases to cancel COCs of unqualified candidates.
Under the law, barangay and SK bets have to be at least 18 years old on Election Day, with SK candidates not more than 24 by the time.
They also have to be able to read and write, a registered voter of the barangay and resident thereat for at one year prior to election day.
In addition, pursuant to Section 10 of RA 11768 or the SK Reform Act, an elected or appointive SK official must not be related within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent elected regional, provincial, city, municipal, or barangay official, in the locality where the appointive or elective official seeks to be elected.
They must not have been convicted by final judgment of any crime involving moral turpitude, the same law states.
Thus, any SK candidate in the upcoming barangay polls should not have a parent, spouse, brother or sister,
parent-in-law, or grandparent who are incumbent elected officials.
The anti-dynasty provision in the 2015 law introduced by then Senator and now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
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Last week, April 19, 2023, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (PAGASA) inaugurated its 19th state-of-the-art Doppler Radar station at Binatiklan, Laoang, Northern Samar.
DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. said the Laoang Doppler Radar is strategically located at the eastern seaboard of the Philippine Archipelago, which can cater a portion of the CALABARZON Region specifically Quezon province, a portion of MIMAROPA Region (except Palawan), Region V, VI, VII, VIII and a small portion of Northern Mindanao.
Built on top of a mountain in the small island of Samar off Laoang, the P150-M radar is a C-Band Dual Polarization Solid State Weather Radar with a 480-km radial range, similar to the one installed in Cataingan, Masbate, which was inaugurated and operationalized in August 2022.
As to the fate of the Buenavista, Bato Doppler Radar Station, which has gone unrepaired more than two years after it was destroyed by super typhoon Rolly, nothing has been heard from PAGASA officials.
Whether any of our two sitting congressmen and one acting congressman has made an inquiry on the vital matter with agency officials remains to be seen or heard.
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There is reliable info that due to the successive high heat index in Virac and the recent death of a nursing student who participated in a high-noon college activity, the Catanduanes State University will be holding online classes starting this week, instead of the usual face-to-face learning.
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A SERIES OF COINCIDENCES. A chicken farmer went to the local bar. He sat next to a woman and ordered champagne. The woman said: “How strange, I also just ordered a glass of champagne.”
“What a coincidence,” said the farmer, who added, ” It is a special day for me. I am celebrating.”
“It is a special day for me too, I am also celebrating!” said the woman.
“What a coincidence!” said the farmer.
While they toasted, the farmer asked, “What are you celebrating?”
“My husband and I have been trying to have a child for years, and today, my gynecologist told me that I was pregnant.”
“What a coincidence,” said the man. “I am a chicken farmer and for years all my hens were infertile, but now they are all set to lay fertilized eggs.”
“This is incredible,” said the woman. “What did you do for your chickens to become fertile?”
“I used a different rooster,” he said.
“What a coincidence,” smiled the woman.