A DELEGATION of nearly 200 observers from the European Union will monitor the conduct of the May 12 midterm elections, the biggest delegation that the EU has deployed since it started monitoring the conduct of elections worldwide in 2000.
The observer mission is headed by Chief Observer Marta Temido, who is also a member of the European Parliament.
Temido said the delegation was invited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Philippine government.
Temido arrived in Manila on Tuesday and will stay in the country for five days. Prior to her arrival, 72 long-term election observers arrived last week and have been divided into 36 teams, or two observers per team, and deployed across the country, including the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Over 100 more are expected to arrive in the next few days.
In a brief advisory, the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the Philippines 2025 said Temido will meet with numerous Philippine authorities, Comelec officials, domestic observer groups, candidates, media, and civil society representatives during her five-day stay.
Yesterday, Temido met with Comelec officials led by chairman George Garcia “to learn more about the country’s election preparation.”
She was accompanied during the meeting by EU EOM Deputy Chief Observer Manuel Sánchez de Nogués; Naledi Lester, an election analyst; and Frederic Grillet, political officer of the EU delegation to the Philippines.
Temido also met with Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Affairs Jesus Domingo.
“It is important to remember that we are not here to validate results or to legitimize the process. We are here to observe, we are here to assess if international standards, the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and its laws are respected or not. This is the result of our job, of our work,” Temido said.
Members of the mission have already visited Comelec offices and storage sites for the Automated Voting Machines (ACMs) and other election materials in Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental, Guimaras province, Lapu Lapu City in Cebu, and a Comelec warehouse in Eastern Visayas.
Similar visits were also undertaken by other delegates in Oriental Mindoro, Baguio City, Cebu, Negros Island and General Santos City.
Another team was also deployed to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), where they met with the editorial team of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation in Cotabato City.
A team of EU observers likewise visited the Mindanao Cross newspaper and met with Prof. Sheila Algabre from the Institute for Autonomy and Governance in BARMM.
The EU delegation will observe all aspects of the electoral process, including campaign rallies and activities; assess the performance of the Comelec, the participation of marginalized groups, observance of civil and political rights, the work of the media, and the accuracy of the automated election system, among others.
It is expected to come up with a post-election comprehensive report, including its recommendations, two months after the polls.
On Election Day, the mission will visit polling stations across the country to observe the opening, voting, counting, and tabulation results and the election dispute resolution.
ONLINE PRECINCT FINDER
With only 19 days before the May 12 polls, the Comelec yesterday activated the online precinct finder system to allow all registered voters to identify and know where they are assigned to cast their votes on Election Day.
In a statement, the Comelec urged the public to utilize the online precinct finder via precinctfinder.comelec.gov.ph.
“This will afford all registered voters to determine their registration status and their assigned post or clustered precinct, as well as the voting center, where they are assigned to vote on Election Day,” said the Comelec.
In using the system, voters must input their first, middle and last names as they have exactly and correctly provided during their voter registration and as reflected in the Comelec Central Database, and their date of birth.
They would then select their place of registration (province and city/municipality for local voters, or post/embassy for overseas voters.
The system shall then display the complete name of the voter, together with the place of registration, as well as the status of voter registration (active, deactivated, no record or multiple records), and the pertinent polling information (clustered precinct number and voting center.
The Comelec said the online precinct finder is eyed as a supplementary method for the Voter Information Sheets (VIS).
“This is in addition to the VIS, which likewise contain the same information plus an official sample ballot with the corresponding official list of national and local candidates,” it said.
ACMs
The Comelec said all of the 93,629 automated counting machines (ACMs) and 16,371 contingency units are expected to be completely delivered by Friday, or just more than two weeks before the May 12 polls, in its 110 technical and repair hubs.
The completion of the ACM deployment will be followed by their delivery to the 37,525 voting centers in different cities and municipalities throughout the Philippines.
On the other hand, the Comelec said they have successfully dispatched last Tuesday the initial batches of official ballots to be used in the elections, including those to be used in Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, and the Special Geographic Area.
It said the “loading and dispatch” of the official ballots bound for Batanes, Caraga, Soccsksargen, Davao Region, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Bicol Region, Mimaropa, and Calabarzon “shall proceed on a day-to-day basis from the Comelec Santa Rosa warehouse.”
The ballots for the Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley will be deployed from April 29 to 30; for Ilocos Region and Central Luzon from May 3 to 4; and for the National Capital Region from May 6 to 7. – With Gerard Naval
