The roughly 500,000 voters of Cebu City head to the polling precincts today for the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
This as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued a new memorandum giving consideration to those candidates who mistakenly filed their Certificates of Candidacy.
City election officer for the north district Marchel Sarno revealed that yesterday morning his office received a memorandum from acting Comelec Chairman Resurreccion Borra giving the local election officers the authority to decide moto propio on the certificate of candidacies filed mistakenly.
“Commissioner Borra has given us discretion to decide on the matter,” Sarno said. He explained this means that those who have mistakenly filed their COCs would be given a chance to correct them and run for the position they want.
This new memorandum could benefit people like Day-as barangay captain Michael Ocleasa, Sr., who is seeking a second term. Unfortunately, he filled up the form for barangay councilman.
Since this memorandum has been issued, the name of Ocleasa will be removed from those seeking the post of councilman and will be put among those candidates for barangay captain.
Sought for comment, Ocleasa welcomed the development describing is as a “miracle” despite the fact that he had spent quite a big amount in re-printing his campaign materials from barangay captain to barangay councilman and back to barangay captain again.
Ocleasa got a copy of the memorandum from the Comelec city office only at 3 p.m. yesterday.
“Dako kaayo ni nga milagro para nako. Maski nadoble na akong gasto ug apisar sa kalisod sa pagpangampanya, nalipay ko,” Ocleasa told The Freeman.
He said that he campaigned as barangay captain for only a day when the Comelec discovered he filled up the COC for barangay councilman.
Now, he added that he has now to do extra effort to inform the people that he is running as barangay captain again.
While the offical campaign period has already ended last Saturday midnight, Ocleasa said that what he would be doing now is just inform the residents of his barangay that the Comelec has given him reconsideration to run as barangay captain.
The city Comelec north district discovered that Ocleasa filed a wrong COC only on the afternoon of October 19, a day after the deadline of the filing of the COCs. The campaign period was only for nine days, starting Oct. 19 until Oct. 27.
Immediately after he got the copy of the memo, he said that he asked his campaign staff and supporters to help him inform the people about the new memorandum from the Comelec.
Aside from Ocleasa, there are other candidates who mistakenly filed their COCs. Sarno said there were also some candidates for SK positions who mistakenly filled up their COCs as candidates for barangay post.
He said that they already sent communications to these candidates informing them of the new memo from Comelec central office.
Sarno also said that they also issued memorandum to the teachers who would act as Board of Election Tellers (BETs) to correct the list of candidates and count the votes of those who mistakenly filed their COCs.
DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS
Starting last Saturday, Sarno said that the City Treasurer’s Office has started distributing the “non-accountable” forms and materials like ballot boxes, pens and tally sheets. Starting this 2 a.m., the CTO will also distribute the “accountable” forms like official ballots, election returns, statement of votes and indelible ink.
Ballot boxes are released early because these will be opened and scrutinized by candidates’ watchers and the public in each precinct before they are padlocked for the start of the voting process.
The ballot boxes will be opened and inspected in the presence of watchers in the precincts together with the official ballots to ensure they correspond with the number of official voters in each precinct.
The total number of ballots should correspond to the number of voters plus three more forms, which each of the three-member BET will fill up in casting their own votes
“Nangabot na ganina ang kulang nato nga mga balota. Pero ato pa ni i-check kung maigo ba. We’re doing our best to ensure that there would be no problem,” Sarno said.
Sarno advised the voters to go to the polling places early and vote wisely and not to be tempted by monetary considerations. He also advised the candidates to respect whatever may be the outcome of the elections as “it is the voice of the people.”
NUMBER OF VOTERS
There are 219,391 registered voters who will vote for the barangay election in the north district while there are 11,027 for the SK elections.
In the south district, 267,322 for the barangay and 10,430 for the SK.
In last May’s elections, there were 209,446 voters in the north district and 251,532 voters in the south district.
Sarno said there is also an increase in the number of polling precincts due to the increase in the number of voters.
There are estimated 2,300 polling precincts in both districts in all 80 barangays of the city.
Nationwide, Comelec said that 51,376,318 registered voters— 48,221,863 for barangay and 3,154,455 for SK polls—are expected to troop to 238,486 precincts established for today’s polls.
Voters are expected to elect a total of 671,120 barangay and SK officials in 41,945 barangays nationwide.
The synchronized barangay and SK elections are based on the newly amended Republic Act No. 9340, approved on Sept. 22, 2005 by the 13th Congress of the Philippines which prescribed that the said polls would occur on the last Monday of October 2007 and in subsequent elections after three years.
The last synchronized barangay and SK polls were held in July 2002.
DEPED READY
DepEd Regional Director Carolino Mordeno said that the DepEd Election Task Force will ensure that teachers shall be provided with adequate information, technical and legal assistance in the course of performing their duties as election tellers.
“We are well-prepared for the elections, and we will go the extra mile to guarantee the safety of our teachers,” Mordeno said.
The DepEd Task Force, which will operate for 48 hours straight – from October 29 to 30 - has a call center monitoring database unit, operations group, logistic and support unit, teachers’ defense, legal and technical unit, and communications unit.
Mordeno said more than a thousand teachers will be deployed today who will serve in the Board of Election Tellers (BETs) and the Barangay Board of Canvassers (BBOCs), doing the frontline work in the registration up to the canvassing and consolidation of votes.
Also, senior officials of the DepEd shall act as deputies of the Comelec.
Mordeno said that teachers have already been given training from February to April this year prior to the May elections.
“We believe that our teachers have done their homework, so to speak, and that they are well prepared to perform this task professionally,” hr explained.
In terms of preparedness, it is only DepEd that has an election primer for teachers. This is a question and answer publication that instructs teachers’ on their responsibilities based on Comelec general instructions.
The DepEd also has reactivated the Election Task Force that will ensure close coordination and consultation between the Comelec and DepEd.This will provide immediate technical, legal and other assistance to teachers on issues, concerns and problems that may arise before, during and after the elections.
The synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will start as early as 7:30 a.m. — (/NLQ)