Comelec all set for polls

MANILA, Philippines — Voters should bring “passion and patience” when they go to their polling precincts tomorrow for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Acting Comelec chairman Al Parreno said almost all aspects of the elections are 100 percent complete, including the deployment of ballots and election materials to the field.

According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, voters are not required to bring anything to polling precincts since the poll body would provide ballpens and voters are not even required to bring Comelec identification cards.

Given the hot weather and the possibility of people crowding in the polling precincts, Jimenez noted that “the determination to make our vote count” must really be there. 

“As far as preparation is concerned, again, there’s nothing required per se. But there are some things that are good to have – passion and patience for voting,” he added.

The poll body has downloaded the payment of the over 500,000 teachers who will serve as Board of Election Tellers (BET) in 177,575 clustered precincts across the country.

Parreno said local poll officers have identified possible replacements for teachers who may not show up for the elections.  

He added that the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have identified and trained their personnel who could provide security during the elections.  

Up for grabs in this election are one seat for chairperson and seven seats for kagawad (councilman) in each of the 42,044 barangays nationwide.  

For the SK polls, the available positions are one chairperson and seven members for each barangay.  

Comelec data show there are 78,002,561 registered voters, including 20,626,329 voters for SK and 57,376,232 voters for barangay. Some 17 million voters aged 18 to 30 can vote for both the barangay and SK. 

The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) has cautioned against the return of various forms of election fraud as the country is seeing manual polls again after five years.

“Vote buying can happen whether it’s manual or automated elections. But with manual, we can expect to see how this can be executed in many forms,” said Namfrel secretary general Eric Alvia.

One the methods is the use of carbonized or thermal paper by voters when they cast their votes.

Alvia revealed that voters could then show the paper to the vote buyers so they can collect the payment or prove that they voted for the desired candidates.

He claimed there is also the so-called “chain method” wherein a piece of paper serving as “kodigo” is passed from one voter to another. The voters are supposed to copy the names written on the paper.

Ballot snatching was also rampant in previous manual elections. 

“All forms of cheating will return but if the public is vigilant, it can easily be caught. All we need to do is observe and report. The more people are engaged, the greater the chance to stop cheating,” he added.

Poll violence

The PNP has recorded 25 violent incidents believed to be related to the barangay and SK elections tomorrow.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, the PNP has recorded 23 shooting incidents and two cases of kidnapping nationwide.

The most numbers of incidents are in Central Luzon with 12, followed by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with three and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas with two incidents each. The remaining four incidents happened in other parts of the country.

However, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde expects fewer violent incidents resulting in death and injuries.

Albayalde said what he expects to happen are incidents such as fistfights and verbal confrontations between supporters of opposing candidates. He added incidents of vote buying could be intense before election day.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Jonathan Bulalacao said 27 people were killed and six were injured from these poll-related violent incidents, five of which are validated.

“The suspects in these incidents have reached 86 persons already, three of whom were arrested,” said Bulalacao in a text message.

Around 163,000 police officers will secure the barangay and SK elections.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced yesterday that the number coding scheme will be suspended tomorrow for the polls. 

The city government of Makati also said the number coding scheme will be lifted in the city.  

Teachers’ neutrality

The Department of Education (DepEd) has reminded teachers who will serve as election officers tomorrow to be neutral and not take part in any partisan activity.

Education Undersecretary Alain del Pascua said in a press conference on Friday teachers are prepared for the polls, adding all of them have undergone thorough orientation and training conducted by the Comelec.

“The orientation of teachers has already been conducted by Comelec in every school and in every district nationwide,” he said.

Over 300,000 officers will serve in the elections tomorrow, according to Pascua.

Under the new Election Service Reform Act, public school teachers have the option not to serve as election officers. 

Alternatives include private school teachers, national government employees except uniformed personnel of the defense department, members of accredited citizen arms or civil society organizations accredited by Comelec and any registered voters of known competence who is not connected with any candidate or party.

Uniformed personnel of the PNP may also be deputized as a last resort in areas where there are no qualified voters willing to render election services.

DepEd on Friday also announced that some teachers will be exempted from the five percent tax to be collected from the honoraria and travel allowances that they will receive for rendering election services.

Citing the opinion of Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Caesar Dulay, DepEd assistant secretary Revsee Escobedo said only those who receive an annual salary of P250,000 or less will be exempted from the tax amounting to P300 to P350.

The honoraria are as follows: P6,000 for those who will serve chair of electoral boards; P5,000 for members of electoral boards; P4,000 for DepEd supervisor officials; and P2,000 for support staff.

Those who will render election services will also receive an additional P1,000 as travel allowance.

Other benefits include a minimum of five days service credit, legal indemnification package worth P50,000, medical assistance of up to P200,000 and election-related death benefit amounting to P500,000.

As the official campaign period comes to a halt today, a waste and pollution watch group challenged all candidates to prepare for clean-up of campaign materials. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Janvic Mateo, Rhodina Villenueva, Robertzon Ramirez, Celso Amo