ELECTION chairman George Garcia yesterday said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will tap personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard during the October 13 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) to serve as substitute members of the Electoral Boards (EBs).
An Electoral Board is the body duly constituted by the Comelec to conduct the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS), voting, counting, and transmission of election results.
Garcia said the PCG personnel will replace public school teachers who will be unable to serve as EB members on Election Day.
“We are preparing about 1,000 members of the Philippine Coast Guard,” he said in an interview, adding the personnel will undergo training alongside the regular EB members composed of public school teachers.
Garcia said the PCG personnel will be used in lieu of policemen “so the PNP can focus on their duties of protecting the peace in the area.”
In previous elections, thousands of PNP personnel were trained to serve as EB members on Election Day, if deemed necessary.
In a related development, Garcia said the poll body will closely monitor and exercise vigilance amid the recent developments in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
In an order dated August 16, MILF chairman Alhadj Murad Ebrahim directed all commanders and members not to participate in the decommissioning activity of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU).
The directive was issued as the election period started in the BARMM, which means the gun ban is now in effect.
“We are closely monitoring the situation,” Garcia said, even as he said that they have yet to see any election-related issues emerging from the directive.
Asked how it could affect the conduct of the BPE, he cited potential security issues. “It could affect the implementation of the gun ban,” Garcia said.
Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. yesterday called for an open and sincere dialogue to address any issues and concerns in relation to the full implementation of the
Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the government and the MILF.
He likewise affirmed the government’s full commitment to the peace accord, which was signed in 2014.
Galvez said the order is an “internal matter” to the MILF, but as far as the government is concerned, it “remains fully committed to the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).”
“To address these apparent differences, we believe an open and sincere dialogue between both sides is the best way forward. We trust that both the government and the MILF are sincere in upholding the CAB and preserving the peace gains achieved so far,” he said.
Galvez said some peace-related activities, such as the decommissioning of combatants and firearms, are temporarily suspended due to the election ban imposed by the Comelec.
He also said that the decommissioning would be affected by the gun ban currently in effect in the region.
He said the OPAPRU, however, is very open to discuss with the MILF what programs or activities can be jointly implemented during this period without violating the election ban.
On July 19, the MILF Central Committee temporarily suspended the fourth and final phase of the decommissioning of its 14,000 combatants and 2,450 weapons and claimed that the government has not substantially delivered on its socio-economic commitments under the CAB.
It said that it would only resume the decommissioning once the government substantially complies with the socio-economic provision of the peace accord.
A total of 26,145 out of the estimated 40,000 MILF combatants and 4,625 firearms have already been decommissioned since the process started in 2019.
Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo said the Marcos government has been continuously sending peace caravans in the Bangsamoro region to provide aid and other public service to the former combatants and the communities that were previously affected by the conflict in the region. – With Jocelyn Reyes
