Article by:
Ferdinand Patinio
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it will be coordinating with law enforcement agencies to ensure that holding of the Sept. 14 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) is peaceful.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said checkpoints have been set up to areas in the region as the Election Period has started on July 16 until Sept. 29.
“We will coordinate with the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to lay the groundwork and we said that we will not allow widespread unrest,” he said in an interview.
“The AFP and PNP must have joint patrols in the red category areas. It cannot be just the PNP. The AFP must be included,” the poll body chief added.
At the same time, Garcia reported that there were no arrests recorded or detained at the start of the election period.
“On the first day of our Election Period... it went very smoothly. In our 167 checkpoints, not a single person was arrested or detained or found carrying a deadly weapon. There were no violations,” he said.
“So far, since we implemented our election period, and our gun ban, and the checkpoints, we have not had any election-related violence registered in the entire Bangsamoro,” the chairman of the poll body added.
Garcia also reported that they have completed the printing of the 2.3 million official ballots to be used in the BPE.
“In fact, we have finished printing the ballots. Now we are verifying the ballots, whether all 2.3 million ballots printed for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections are accepted by all our machines to be sent to the Bangsamoro,” he said.
During the election period, the poll body advised the public that the prohibited acts include the ban on the bearing, carrying, or transporting of firearms or other deadly weapons, among others. (PNA)
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