TACLOBAN CITY-More than a million youths from the region are to vote in the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections this May 14.
Based on the records of the regional office of the Commission on Elections(Comelec), about 1,173,514 young voters are to cast their votes for the SK elections which are to be held together with the regular barangay balloting.
The number of SK voters in the region has ballooned compare to the 2010 record, the last time the country held a youth election.
For that particular youth election, there were only 188,018 SK registered voters of which 174,547 casted their votes.
Lawyer Felicisimo Embalsado, Comelec-8 assistant regional director, said that the increase of the SK registrants were due to the implementation of RA 10742 which raised the voting age of SK.
From the previous 15 to 17 years of age, considered as SK voters are those from 15 to 30 years of age, Embalsado said.
However, the same law mandates that only those who are 18 to 24 years could run and be elected as SK officials.
“But during the elections, SK voters ages 18 to 30 are to be given two ballots, one for the SK and the other for the regular barangay elections,” Embalsado said.
Under our laws, those who reaches 18 and above are qualified to vote during a local or national election.
Those who will run for the SK and barangay polls are to submit their certificates of candidacy (CoCs) starting on April 14 until April 20.
However, the Comelec local offices will not accept CoCs on April 15 which falls on Sunday, Embalsado said.
Of the six provinces of Eastern Visayas, Leyte has the most number of SK voters at 477,845 followed by Samar,229,505 voters.
Eastern Samar has 135,821 SK voters; Northern Samar (181,335); Southern Leyte (103,081); and Biliran, 45,927.
Meantime, registered for the regular barangay elections in the region is at 2.84 million.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
