STA. ROSA, LAGUNA – Just over a month before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it is 99 percent prepared to conduct the polls on October 30.
In a press conference here, Comelec chairman George Garcia said: “The Commission on Elections is 99 percent ready for the BSKE. All our schedules, timelines were followed. All the election paraphernalia, both accountable and non-accountable forms, are already completed.”
“The training of teachers as Electoral Board members are also ongoing every Saturday and Sunday,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the National Printing Office (NPO) turned over the Certificate of Completion to the Comelec on the printing of the official manual ballots and other forms to be used in the barangay and youth polls.
These include the 92,054,974 official ballots, including 68,197,135 for the barangay and 23,857,839 for the SK elections.
Also completed are the printing of 403,120 sets of Election Returns; 87,000 sets of Certificates of Canvass and Proclamation; 97,000 sets of Statement of Votes by Precinct; and 4,500 sets of Summary Statement of Votes.
Left to be printed are the 86,165 barangay and 27,511 SK ballots to be used in the pilot testing of the automated election system in Barangays Zone II Poblacion and Paliparan III in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, and in Barangay Pasong Tamo in the sixth district of Quezon City.
“This can be easily completed in just one day,” said Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco.
For his part, Comelec — Administrative Services Department (ASD) Director Thaddeus Hernan said deployment of the accountable forms is set to commence on October 5 until October 20, “with those for the farthest regions to be deployed first.”
The non-accountable forms, on the other hand, have already been dispatched as early as September 1, said Hernan.
Given the extensive preparations of the Comelec, Garcia said he sees no reason to declare a “failure of elections” in any part of the country.
“Our instructions to our local Comelec personnel is there should be no failure of elections in any part of the country. There should be elections in the 42,000 barangays in the country,” he said.
“That (failure of elections) is unacceptable. Election should proceed. Election should be held. People must be allowed to vote,” he stressed.
Comelec Executive Director Teopisto Elnas said they are preparing for the possibility of typhoons and flooding considering that the elections is being held during the rainy season.
“In case there are areas that will be flooded, the Comelec will find ways to conduct the elections on that day. We will be ready to transfer to an alternative area,” said Elnas.
He said they are also preparing contingency measures in case teachers will refuse to serve on Election Day.
In a related development, Garcia said the Comelec will begin filing disqualification cases against BSKE candidates who have been found engaged in premature campaigning activities.
“Next week, we will start filing formal petitions for disqualification. We will immediately file them so that these ‘epal’ candidates won’t be able to run,” he said.
The poll chief said it is their goal to resolve the petitions for disqualification before the October 30 elections.
