Article by:
Perla Lena
ILOILO CITY – The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) will proceed even if it falls on All Souls Day, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Erwin Garcia assured on Friday.
In a media interview at the sidelines of the inauguration of the Comelec Integrated Field Office -Western Visayas in this urbanized city, Garcia said the Nov. 2 schedule was at the absolute discretion of Congress.
He said that since it is part of a long weekend, voters go home to their provinces where they have the opportunity to cast their votes.
“Therefore, nandun yung chance na mabigyan ng halaga ang isang barangay. Huwag nating mamaliitin ang barangay and SK election, lagi nating sinasabi yan. Lahat ng problema ng bayan nagsisimula sa barangay. Therefore, ang kahalagahan nyan ay doble sa kahalagahan ng ano pa mang halalan (there is the chance to give importance to the barangay. We should not belittle the BSKE, we always say that. All the country’s problems emanate at the barangay level. Therefore, the barangay elections are double in importance from any elections),” he added.
Garcia said they have completed printing the ballot, and Comelec is now in the process of verification.
“More or less that’s 95 million ballots, because we have 70 million ballots for regular voters and 25 million for the Sangguniang Kabataan,” he said.
Comelec also has already procured almost what are needed for the elections.
Next in their schedule is the training for teachers who will serve during the polls and the filing of certificates of candidacy in September.
Garcia said they had better preparations because of the resetting of the elections, but hoped it would not be reset again.
“It is important to have a regular election so people will always look forward to it,” he said.
He added it will be an opportunity for the public to evaluate if their leaders are still deserving of their votes.
Meanwhile, Garcia was joined by Commissioners Rey Bulay, Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr., Nelson Celis, Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal and Noli Pipo, Regional Election Director Dennis Ausan, all provincial election directors and Mayor Raisa Treñas during the inauguration of the four-story Comelec Integrated Office at the Iloilo City Government Complex in Barangay Taal in Molo district.
The ground floor will cater to the Office of the Election Officer (Iloilo City) and frontline services, the second floor for the Iloilo Provincial Election Supervisor, and the third floor will be for the Regional Election Director and core functions.
It also has a dormitory for personnel and a multi-purpose space envisioned to host regionwide activities, meetings and institutional events. (PNA)
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