ILOILO City – There would be no Oct. 30 elections in one barangay in Western Visayas.
Barangay Inampulugan in Sibunag, Guimaras has not held six, going seven this year, barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Atty. Dennis Ausan, director of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 6, said that as far as he can remember, Inampulugan — the biggest island village of the town — has never participated in the barangay polls since the creation of the municipality on Feb. 20, 1995 by virtue of Republic Act No. 7896.
From Aug. 28 to Sept. 2, no one from the 207 registered voters (162 for barangay and 45 for SK) filed their certificates of candidacy.
“Wala sang nag-file sa punong barangay, sa Sangguniang Barangay, or sa SK man. So, again considering nga wala sang may nag-file sang candidacy, wala kita sang kandidato kag wala kita, just like before, wala kita ipatuman nga election dira nga isla,” Ausan told Panay News.
Residents only exercise their right of suffrage during the national and midterm elections, just like the May 2022 polls, with a surprisingly high turnout.
“We have to note nga kon national and local elections ya may eskwelahan man kita dira, may polling precinct kita, and may ara maestra nga naga-serve kag nagaboto gid ang aton nga registered voters,” Ausan added.
Ausan thinks the residents have no interest and believe they do not need barangay officials.
“I would say nga they just don’t see the need for them to have barangay officials, siguro kay daw kuntento lang ya ang tawo dira and supposed okay man ang ila pangabuhian dira. Wala man ya sang may nagapahog sa ila or may nabatian dira nga istorya,” he said.
Lea Uy, acting municipal election officer of Sibunag, is baffled by the situation despite their various information dissemination efforts in the barangay.
It was learned that during the voter registration period for barangay and SK elections from Dec. 12, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023, no resident from the island has visited the Comelec-Sibunag office.
“Wala sang nagpa-register subong nga barangay elections. Bale ang ining record daw last midterm elections pa,” Uy said.
What will happen on Oct. 30?
Uy said the municipal and regional Comelec offices will wait for feedback from its central office, including whether or not the electoral board should still render service.
Barangay Inampulogan has its voting center, which is a school, and a clustered precinct.
In the previous barangay and SK elections, Uy said the Comelec central office decided to have the assigned electoral boards be off duty. At the same time, the budget allocated was returned to the central office.
“Every barangay election, naga-assign kami electoral boards. So kon wala sang naga-file nga kandidato ang budget nga gina-allocate ginabalik na sa Comelec sa Metro Manila,” explained Uy.
Residents in the island village have vast plots of land for farming, and many depend on fishing as their main source of livelihood.
Inampulugan only has small motor bancas as a means of transportation to mainland Sibunag. Travel takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
Although Uy said most residents opt to conduct business or study in Pulupandan town in Negros Occidental, which is also close, with more or less one hour of sea travel.
Inampulugan is one of the 14 barangays of Sibunag. The others are Alegria, Ayangan, Bubog, Concordia, Dasal (Poblacion), Maabay, Millan, Oracon, Ravina, Sabang, San Isidro, Sebaste, and Tanglad.
For the upcoming Oct. 30 barangay and SK elections, Sibunag has a total of 446 candidates with a total of 15,726 registered voters.
Sibunag is a fourth class municipality in Guimaras.
According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 23,162 people./PN
