MANILA – A Church-based poll watchdog group is also preparing for the holding of the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
Arwin Serrano, national coordinator of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), said they are in the middle of preparation but they are not expecting to fully deploy their poll body watchers.
"Our preparations are ongoing but not as heavy compared to the midterm elections. With regards to poll watching, there is a huge possibility that we won't be able to fill them up 100 percent," the PPCRV official added said in a phone interview Monday.
He said they are looking to gather some 250,000 volunteers for the forthcoming village and youth polls.
The number is lower than the over 400,000 volunteers deployed during last year’s presidential and vice presidential elections.
Serrano also noted that the decrease in number is because many of these volunteers have links to candidates.
"During BSKEs, the number of our volunteers decrease as they support their relatives, neighbors, or friends running in the elections," he said.
"With PPCRV being non-partisan, they will have to go on leave as our volunteers," the poll watchdog group official added.
On the other hand, he said they will just have to rely on regular citizens during the polls
"Given our limited personnel, our volunteers will just need to go on roving," Serrano added.
The PPCRV is one of the accredited citizens’ arm groups of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the May 2022 polls. (PNA)
