Poll bets sign peace covenant in Legazpi City

Candidates in the upcoming May polls in Legazpi City pledge to keep the elections clean and peaceful by signing a covenant Saturday afternoon. Photos by Rey Anthony Ostria, Inquirer Southern Luzon

LEGAZPI CITY — Candidates for the May 2019 elections signed a peace covenant Saturday afternoon for a peaceful campaign period and polls.

Supt. Aldwin Gamboa, acting Legazpi City police chief, said the covenant was organized by the city police force because “in the places that I visited, there were political rivalries and people were divided.”

Representatives from the academe; Catholic, Muslim, and Christian faithful, non-government agencies, and the media were present in the covenant signing.

The event started with a mass at 4 p.m. which was followed by a program around 5 p.m. where candidates recited the Integrity Pledge before the covenant signing itself.

Despite invitations sent out to 17 candidates, only seven aspirants for the position of city councilors and Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal, who is seeking reelection, turned up for the event.

Although no political violence was recorded in Legazpi City in the past elections, Gamboa said they still wanted to show that Legazpeños support a “clean and peaceful elections.”

Commission on Elections Legazpi City head Ednalyn Garcia-Referiza said that although Philippine elections have undergone what she described as vital reformation, its full realization would need extra time and effort.

Dick Fontanilla, city advisory council vice chairman, said the Filipino vote would determine whether “candidates who resort to violence and intimidations will have their way and lord over us in the coming years.”/lzb