Comelec ready for BARMM polls, BSKE, says Garcia

Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia explains the preparations for the coming November 2 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections during a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon. —GERALDFORD TICKE

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, PALAWAN, Philippines — It’s all systems go for the coming parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) this coming September 14 and the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) slated on November 2, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said.

Garcia and other commissioners and high-ranking officials of Comelec were here to oversee the remaining days of the ongoing voter registration at SM City Puerto Princesa.

Speaking to Palawan media in a press briefing here on Wednesday afternoon, Garcia said Comelec is already at 90 percent in terms of preparation with ballots and other election materials, specifically for the November 2 village polls.

READ: Comelec voter registration for BSKE ends May 18: What you need to know

“For the information of everyone, we are saying this repeatedly, Comelec is ready,” he said.

He likewise said that for the security aspect, the Comelec has already conducted a command conference with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard and other concerned government agencies.

READ: BARMM regional elections will push through in September – Garcia

“We have already laid down the security preparation that we will implement in the coming months,” he stated.

He further stated that so far, there is only one town in the province of Basilan that was placed under red category but no area has been declared under Comelec control.

“We are not talking about Comelec control. So far, all other areas are classified as green category, meaning no violence,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Garcia said that as part of their visit, the Comelec wants to highlight aspects of the upcoming BSKE where he emphasized the importance of the vulnerable sector particularly the persons deprived of liberty (PDL), persons with disability (PWD), indigenous people, the elderly and pregnant women, who he said will have a special time for voting.

“We want to emphasize our IPs, PWDs, the elderly and the pregnant women, they are the vulnerable sector which is very important because the heart and conscience of Comelec is in the vulnerable sector,” he said, noting the early voting hours allotted for them from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

He said the voting hours will be implemented again and in the next elections as long as there is no early voting law passed yet.

Regarding the voter registration, Garcia said around 4.5 million have so far availed of Comelec’s registration services since October 20 last year. For SK, there are 1.3 million newly registered voters.

He added that at present, there are already 70 million registered voters while for SK, there are 25 million.

“So, more or less there are around 95 million voters for the November 2 election,” he said.

He also said that for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections happening in September, candidates may now be able to check their names at the Comelec website so that if ever there are some discrepancies, they can have it corrected.

At the same time, he said the project of precincts as well as the number of voters will also be out by Wednesday.

“In the Bangsamoro (region), we have identified 5,212 precincts, meaning we will need around 6,500 machines so that we will have 1,000 for contingency,” he explained, noting that the parliamentary election will be computerized.

“Our BSKE will be manual but the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Election for the first time in history will be automated,” he said. /cb