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SEN. BONG GO files bill extending the terms of incumbent barangay officials

For continuity and efficiency of barangay programs 

 

Expressing his empathy for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials who wish to execute their programs fully in their respective constituencies, Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go filed a bill seeking to extend the terms of office of the local officials to give them “ample time and continuity to pursue and implement the programs they have set in their respective jurisdictions.”

As committed during the Senatorial campaign, Go has filed a bill calling for the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections slated this May 2020 to October of 2022 to give barangay officials ample time to finish their respective programs and projects.

“Mga barangays natin ang pinaka-frontline ng ating gobyerno sa paghahatid ng serbisyo at sa kampanya natin laban sa iligal na droga at kriminalidad.  Kaya dapat lang na mabigyan natin sila ng sapat na panahon upang makapagpatupad ng kani-kanilang mga programa at proyekto sa kanilang mga nasasakupan,” he said adding that the postponement of the previous brgy elections has limited the term of current officials to only two years. 

In an interview after filling the bill, Go said that as the assistant of the President Rodrigo Duterte for several years, he is familiar with the kind of work that barangay officials render to their communities and they must be given enough time to implement them.

“Galing din ako sa local government. Sila [barangay officials] talaga ang nagdadala ng basic services at nagpapanatili ng peace and order sa kanilang mga barangay. Napakahalaga nila sa kanilang constituents,” Go said.

The term of incumbent barangay officials was reduced to two years after the Republic Act 10952, approved on October 2, 2017, deferred the 2017 barangay and SK elections and moved it to the second Monday of May 2018.

The law further stipulated for the next polls to be held on May 2020, reducing the terms of candidates who won the May 2018 elections only two terms, instead of the three years mandated by the previous law.

“Hindi naman po kasalanan ng mga barangay officials ang postponement ng nakaraang eleksyon. Anong magagawa nila sa dalawang taon? Papaano nila maipapatupad ng buo ang mga gusto nilang programa? Ito po ang dahilan kaya gusto ko itong i-extend,” Go explained.

If passed into law, the bill will move the next barangay and SK elections to the second Monday of October 2022 and every three years thereafter.

As part of his legislative agenda aimed at helping the Duterte administration achieve positive genuine change felt by all Filipinos, Go personally filed  his first 10 Legislative measures last week at the Philippine Senate. 

“Inuna ko po ang kapakanan ng mga Pilipinong pinaka-nangangailangan ng atensyon mula sa gobyerno. Para ito sa mga may sakit, mga ordinaryong manggagawa, mga biktima ng kalamidad, at mga kabataan na pagasa ng ating bayan. Ito ang serbisyong ipinangako ko sa inyo, serbisyo at pagmamalasakit na ramdam kahit saang dako ng bansa,” he said.

PULSO DAVAO: Alvarez, Jubahib gain points in Survey No. 2

By Silver C. Balanza

Re-electionist Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez (1^st District, Davao del Norte) and his party mate gubernatorial bet Edwin Jubahib have gained points in results of the latest survey by Pulso Dabaw.

But the gains are no cause for celebration for the stalwarts of the Alvarez Wing of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino/Lakas ng Bayan (PDP/Laban), in the one-on-one battles with candidates of the Hugpong Ng Pagbabago (HNP).

The coming May 13 election pits Alvarez against Gov. Anthony del Rosario (HNP) in the First District Congress race, Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr (HNP) vs. Vice Governor Alan Dujali (Alvarez Wing) in the 2^nd District, with Board Member Rodney del Rosario (HNP) fighting Jubahib (Alvarez Wing) in the gubernatorial race. 

In the 2^nd survey of the Davao Region-based pollster, conducted during the period January 15-28, the HNP leading candidates took the top spots, as in the first survey covering the period January 8-14, with the Alvarez Wing bets stuck at the bottom.

In the 2^nd survey, involving 500 respondents, Alvarez gained a point (115 votes or 23%)   against his score of 77 or 22% in the previous survey involving 350 respondents.

But Gov. del Rosario maintained his wide lead in the second survey, 365 or 73%. His score in the first survey with 350 respondents was 255 or 73 percent.

Jubahib was also a winner by one percentile, 126 or 18%, compared to his first survey performance (59 or 17 percent).

But Rodney del Rosario is also up by one percentile with 574 or 82% in the second survey of 700 respondents compared to his score of 284 or 81% of 350 respondents.

In the 2^nd District Dujali’s score was dormant at 6% from 30 votes against the previous survey of 21 votes or 6 percent of 350 respondents.

Against Dujali, Floirendo was an unreachable star with 460 or 92 %, gaining the same percentile as in the previous survey (322 or 92% of 350 respondents).

The survey is not commissioned by any group or person, according to Jovita Salvador, Pulso Dabaw president and chief executive officer.

Rigor Zabala, Pulso Dabaw Field Operations chief, said for the 2^nd survey, three five-member survey teams took responses in face-to-face interviews from 700 respondents throughout the province, 500 in the First District and 500 in the Second District. Respondents in the interviews were of voting age.  

The respondents were asked the question: IF THE MAY 13 ELECTION IS HELD TODAY WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR AS…(GOVERNOR/CONGRESSMAN)?

Salvador said the results of the two surveys which are more or less similar, is a potential indication of what could be the results of its coming surveys.

If the pattern persists in the next one or two surveys, we can safely say that the final outcome in this election would tilt favorably to the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, said Salvador.    

The Pulso Dabaw head however said that other factors may intervene during the election campaign period that may affect the winning advantages now enjoyed by HNP.

Salvador pointed out these “winning advantages” as the dominance for decades of the Floirendo and Del Rosario team over the political landscape of Davao del Norte.

She adds that the support Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and the HNP, a regional political party of the presidential daughter, will play a crucial role in the victory of the Floirendo/Del Rosario team.

Salvador said that the Alvarez Wing is hobbled by a weak bench. Alvarez, still nursing the wounds of his ouster as Speaker of the House of Representatives in July last year, has picked virtual unknown Jubahib, his personal assistant, to run for governor, and Dujali against politically-entrenched Floirendo.   

According to Salvador, Pulso Dabaw was expected to release anytime results of its 3^rd survey, conducted from February 4 to 15 involving 2,000 respondents.

REVEALED: ALVAREZ OUSTER HAS BLESSING OF PRESIDENT DUTERTE

READ: ‘Sign from heaven’: How Alvarez’s ouster unfolded

PULSO DABAW: FLOIRENDO CLOBBERS DUJALI IN DAVAO DEL NORTE SURVEY

The challenger of Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. in Davao del Norte’s 2^nd District Congress race is reportedly calling it quits in light of a survey showing his rating far down in the cellar.

The reelectionist Floirendo, running under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) flew high with a 92 percent score in the survey by Davao Region-based pollster Pulso Dabaw.

Dujali of the Alvarez Wing of 1^st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez scored a measly 6 percent.

The result of the Pulso Dabaw survey jibes with other local surveys showing the HNP bets winning by wide margins versus the Alvarez Wing candidates.

Reelectionist First District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez and his candidate for Governor are in a stiff fight in the race to the bottom of pre-poll surveys for the coming May election.

Alvarez, his political stock downed by his ouster in July as Speaker of the House of Representatives and battered by allegations of corruption, was a few points away from Zero in the survey conducted by Pulso Dabaw.
Gubernatorial bet Edwin Jubahib, a virtual unknown and candidate of Alvarez’s “Alvarez Wing” competed with Alvarez in the neck-to-neck race to the bottom of the survey, the first by the Davao Region-based pollster in relation to the 2019 mid-term election.
The survey was conducted during the period January 8-14, 2019 involving 1,200 respondents. Three Pulso Dabaw five-member teams separately generated results of the survey in face-to-face encounters with respondents of voting age in the province (500 respondents), First Congressional District (350 repondents) and Second Congressional District (350 respondents).
The respondents were asked the question: IF THE 2019 MID-TERM ELECTION IS HELD TODAY WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR AS…(GOVERNOR/CONGRESSMAN)?
In the race for Governor, Rodney del Rosario was picked by 284 repondents or 81 percent against Jubahib’s 59 or 17%. 2% or seven of the respondents were undecided. 
In the First District race, Anthony del Rosario clobbered Alvarez with a high 255 respondents (73%) against the former Speaker who got the nod of a measly 77 or 22%. The undecided numbered 18 repondents (5%).
Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. in the Second District survey, was picked by 322 respondents (92%) with Dujali netting an extremely low 21 (6%), with 7 (2%) in the Undecided bracket.
Rodney del Rosario, a sitting member of the Provincial Board, and younger brother, incumbent Governor Anthony del Rosario are cousins of Floirendo.

The Del Rosarios and Floirendo are running under the banner of the Hugpong Ng Pagbabago (HNP), a regional party organized by presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Alvarez, Jubahib and Dujali carry the banner of the Alvarez Wing, a local bloc aligned with the PDP/Laban, of which Alvarez is the secretary general.
Jovita Salvador, Pulso Dabaw chief executive officer, said the survey is uncommissioned.
Salvador said it would release soon results of survey conducted during the period January 15-28, which shall include a poll on voters’ preference in the cities of Igacos (Island Garden City of Samal), Tagum and Panabo.
She explained that its first surveys zeroed in on Davao del Norte as it is the only province in the Davao Region where the coming election is “most politically pronounced.”
Salvador said that while there is also a “hot contest’ in the race for Governor in Davao del Sur, candidates for top positions in other provinces (Davao de Oro, Davao Oriental and Davao Occidental) are either reelectionist incumbents backed by Mayor Duterte-Carpio’s HNP or are facing only token opposition.