The game changers
By the time this piece comes out, it will be exactly 67 days till the 2025 national and local elections, and around 68 million voters are expected to participate in this momentous event.
Momentous, because it comes mid-term in the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is pulling out all the stops to exercise its constitutional mandate and to ensure fair, honest, clean, and orderly elections.
In the exercise of its mandate, the COMELEC has deputized the Philippine National Police (PNP) to ensure peace and order during the election period.
The 150-day election period began last Jan. 12, alongside a nationwide gun ban, until June 11 or a month after the May 12 polls to curb election-related violence.
Prior to the start of the election period, the PNP had already been conducting “Oplan Katok,” a nationwide door-to-door campaign targeting firearms with expired licenses.
According to the PNP, this campaign was not meant to intimidate or harass anyone, but is in accordance with Republic Act No. 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Just the same, as there was already a nationwide gun ban in effect, as part of the election period, and that COMELEC checkpoints had already been set up, manned also by the PNP, then perhaps there was a need to momentarily suspend the implementation of “Oplan Katok” until the end of the election period.
COMELEC had raised the concern that “Oplan Katok” might be used to harass and intimidate candidates at the local level, but the PNP gave the assurance that this won’t be the case.
Accordingly, “Oplan Katok” is still being implemented to date, notwithstanding the nationwide election gun ban.
This instance highlights the good relationship and close coordination that both the COMELEC and the PNP have, and none was it more evident than in the recent COMELEC and PNP night hosted by the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC), Asia’s first and oldest press club, at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City.
Guests of honor and keynote speakers, of course, were none other than COMELEC chairman George Erwin Garcia and PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil.
Chairman Garcia succinctly laid out the commission’s plans for the 2025 elections and discussed challenges that were related to it, such as vote-buying and selling, and the spread of fake news and disinformation.
PNP chief Marbil, meanwhile, pledged that the PNP would spare no effort in ensuring that this year’s elections are peaceful and credible. He outlined the PNP’s efforts in maintaining peace and order, as well as combatting illegal drugs and enhancing cybersecurity, all in preparation for the elections.
Proper coordination and collaboration between the two agencies, as well as with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), help to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections where the citizenry exercise their all-too-important right of suffrage.
Kudos to the MOPC, led by astute veteran journalist Tony Lopez, for timely bringing together the COMELEC and PNP on this occasion.
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I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Finance Secretary Ralph Recto for the country’s removal from the global money laundering’s “grey list.”
Secretary Recto said that exiting the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” is a “significant step” towards achieving a higher credit rating.
The Philippines currently holds an investment-grade rating, but the government aims for an “A” rating before the Marcos administration’s term ends in 2028.
With Secretary Recto at the helm as President Marcos’ chief economic manager, I am confident that the “A” rating would be achieved in no time.
Congratulations, PBBM and Secretary Recto! *
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