MANILA — An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said the preparations for May 14 Barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections are almost complete with only minor things to be ironed out such as the deployment of election paraphernalia.
Comelec acting Chairman Al Parreño said they still have remaining three percent of poll paraphernalia to be delivered in connection with Monday’s polls.
“We have deployed most of our materials already. Just finishing some minor things in the National Capital Region,” he told a press briefing.
“Only three percent remain so we are already about to complete it... in that case, we are ready,” he added.
Parreño noted that they have already done all the necessary arrangements with the teachers who will serve as Board of Election Tellers (BET) such as their deployment nationwide and payment of their honoraria to be released after doing their poll duties.
“We already coordinated with the Development Bank of the Philippines, Department of Budget and Management, and Department of Education and we are already deploying their cash cards, while in far flung areas, we are going to pay them in cash advance,” he said.
There a total of 532,725 teachers will man the 177,575 clustered precincts on Election Day.
Meanwhile, Election Barangay Affairs Department head Teopisto Elnas reported that they are still validating reports that some local officials are persuading candidates not to run and withdraw from the elections.
“There were reports that there incidents of local officials (a governor and a Congressman) who are persuading candidates to withdraw from their candidacies. We are monitoring data and will take the necessary action,” he said.
He refused to identify the officials, saying that "it's still premature, we will validate it. It’s just a raw data from a concerned citizen."
When asked if the action constitutes an election offense, Elnas said, “Once we validate it, we will endorse it to our Law Department for further study.” (PNA)
