Poll preparations continue despite move to postpone

CEBU, Philippines - Preparations for the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections continue despite move to postpone it to a later date.

Commission on Elections-7 director Rafael Olano said the preparations will proceed as scheduled until such time there is a written order.

“Habang wala pa we will continue to prepare kasi kung hindi matuloy yung postponement at least ready tayo,” Olano said.

The barangay and SK elections are scheduled on the last Monday of October.

Olano said Congress should decide sooner if it wants to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections so the money for the printing of ballots and for other preparations may not go to waste.

“Kun i-postpone it should be done at the earliest time para hindi na magastos ng malaki at hindi rin masayang ang pera na ginagamit for the printing of ballots,” he said.

He said the central office has already started printing the official ballots since August 21, while the scheduling for the training of Board of Election Tellers will come next.

He said they already asked the Department of Education to submit a list of volunteer teachers to serve as Board of Election Tellers in the forthcoming elections, which will be conducted using the old manual voting and counting method.

“The teachers must be willing, available and qualified to serve. Preferably, those who already served in previous elections,” he said.

He said the process will be manual where voters will use the blank official ballot for them to write the names of the candidates of their choice.

“Voters will be using a ballot with blanks where they will write down the names of their selected candidates for SK and barangays,” he said.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista earlier assured that the money spent would not be wasted in case of a postponement.

The government has allotted P6.69 billion for the SK and barangay polls. Of the amount, P507 million was used for SK registration, P5.9 billion for the holding of elections. Olano said if the elections would be postponed Comelec can save millions this year. If Congress opts to set the barangay polls next year or the following year a new budget will be proposed.

The Comelec chief has yet to ascertain the fate of sitting elected barangay officials should the elections be postponed. He said there could be term extension.

According to Comelec, there were only 1,035,474 out of three million expected new voters for the SK elections and 785,582 out of two million expected voters for the barangay elections.

Earlier, majority coalition in the House of Representatives conducted the voting in a closed-door caucus called by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas. Albay Rep. Joey Salceda was quoted as saying that 256 of 292 House members voted to re-schedule the synchronized polls.

Senator Joel Villanueva also filed a proposal Wednesday resetting the upcoming synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on October 31 to the last Monday of October 2018.

The senator said that the postponement is a chance for senior high school and college students to be able to register for barangay and SK elections since classes have already started during the 15-day registration period last month.

The Association of Barangay Councils in Cebu City is supporting the proposal.

ABC-Cebu City Chapter President Phillip Zafra said the possible postponement would be advantageous for incumbent barangay officials like him.

Zafra said he would be “hypocrite” not to admit that the move would be beneficial for them.

“It is really advantageous kon motan-aw ta sa among incumbency. But, as to whether advantageous ba na sa barangay concerned, depende pod na sa performance sa barangay official,” he told reporters.

Zafra, who is also barangay captain of Tisa, said incumbent officials of 80 barangays are prepared if the elections would push through.

As of now, Zafra said there are 65 out of 80 barangay captains who are identified with Team Rama. At least 15 out of 80 captains are allied with Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan.

“Una sa tanan, ma-cancel or sa dili, andam rata nga mga incumbent barangay captains nga naay elections this October. Pero para namo, mas knowledgeable ang naa sa taas as to the policy direction as to nganong ilang ipa-cancel ang barangay elections,” he said. (FREEMAN)