INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año has ordered local government units to put up medical health desks in voting precincts to help man isolation polling places (IPPs) that will cater to voters with COVID-19 symptoms.
The IPPs will be established in polling centers based on an agreement recently signed among officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of National Defense and Department of Interior and Local Government.
“Aside from the DILG responsibility under the multi-lateral memorandum agreement, it is also the obligation of the (interior) department to monitor and help local government units to ensure they have orderly preparations for the elections on Monday,” said Año.
“We already instructed all LGUs to establish medical health desks in every polling precinct that will focus on the isolation polling places,” said Año.
Año said he has ordered the LGUs to ensure that Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams are on standby, ready to assist Comelec staff if they need additional personnel.
“The LGUs also need to coordinate with hospitals near voting precincts to hasten response in case their (hospitals) service are needed in case of medical emergencies and COVID-related admissions during the election,” he also said.
Meanwhile, with less than a week before Election Day, the Comelec yesterday expressed belief that a successful Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) nationwide will help increase voter confidence.
Speaking to reporters after personally observing the FTS at the San Juan Elementary School in San Juan City, Elections Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said a successful FTS will translate to more voters participating on May 9.
“As what we witnessed here, the process was very smooth and had no malfunctions or anything,” said Pangarungan, adding: “I’m sure this will have a positive impact in voting because the people can see that the electoral process is okay as seen during the FTS.”
Pangarungan described the FTS process in San Juan City as being “flawless” and “perfect.”
For his part, Commissioner George Garcia reiterated his call for the public to personally witness the FTS.
“You can observe in your respective precincts or even participate in testing our voting machines,” said Garcia in a television interview.
Under the Poll Automation Law, there must be a final examination and testing of the VCMs to be used in each polling precinct.
After the final testing and examination, the VCMs shall be closed and sealed by the electoral boards and will only be opened on Election Day.
For the May 9 polls, the FTS shall be conducted between May 2, 2022 (Monday) to May 7, 2022 (Saturday).
Based on the schedule released by the Comelec, 226 cities/municipalities are still set to hold their FTS today (Wednesday), 402 on Thursday, 451 on Friday, and 259 on Saturday.
Garcia said the Comelec is nearly complete in the dispatch and delivery of the 106,174 vote counting machines (VCMs) to be used on May 9.
He said the completion of the delivery is necessary in order to allow electoral boards to conduct the FTS.
“More or less, we are almost 100 pecent in the whole Philippines. We need to complete them in time for the FTS,” said Garcia. — With Gerard Naval
