Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 20) — A lawmaker on Monday called for the deferment of the planned pilot test in three areas for the forthcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) over questions on different campaign rules.
Automated polls will be held in Barangay Zone II and Paliparan III in Dasmariñas, Cavite, and Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City. The rest of the country will have manual elections.Pwede ba i-experiment na muna ninyo ‘yung automated? Huwag ninyo muna i-apply sa eleksyon,” Senator Imee Marcos, chairperson of the committee on electoral reforms, said at the hearing on preparations for the BSKE.She expressed dismay over the Comelec’s pronouncement that the rules on premature campaigning will be different for areas holding automated elections compared to the rest of the country.Under manual polls, a person is considered a candidate the moment the certificate of candidacy is filed, thus making the candidate liable for premature campaigning. But for automated polls, a person is considered a candidate only on the first day of the official campaign period.Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body will hold mock elections in the same pilot areas before the actual voting day. But Marcos said it does not address the problem.We cannot have a different set of rules for the barangays versus the rest of the country. Surely that is not feasible,” she said.Garcia said the Comelec en banc will discuss the matter.The BSKE is finally scheduled this year after four postponements. Garcia said the poll body is “almost a hundred percent” prepared as 86.59% of ballots for the barangay elections have already been printed, while 90.62% of ballots for the SK elections are ready. The target is to print everything within February.However, Marcos sounded the alarm over the spate of violence ahead of the polls, including the killing of an election officer in Maguindanao del Sur on Feb. 13. Garcia said the Comelec is coordinating with authorities to determine if it was election-related.Garcia said during the 2022 elections, two security escorts were assigned to every election officer in Maguindanao, but some refused, for a number of reasons.Hindi ba pwedeng compulsory iyan [Shouldn’t that be made compulsory]?” Marcos asked.
