Comelec continues polls preparations

Preparations for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in October this year continue amid moves to postpone them, the provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec) supervisor said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the top two provincial leaders have conflicting views on President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposal to just appoint the barangay captains, instead of having an election.

Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, who heads Comelec-Cebu, said only an enacted law from Congress can stop them in their preparations.

“The registration is ongoing and it will last until April 29. We have laid down our calendar of activities for the barangay elections,” Castillano said.

In August this year, the Comelec’s central office in Manila is expected to start printing the official ballots to be used during the elections.

He clarified that the preparations, such as voter registration and even printing of ballots, won’t go to waste because they could still be used in the next barangay elections, granting that Congress passes a law postponing the barangay polls.

At present, the existing law cited that barangay elections are set on October 23, 2017.

“The elections have already been set unless the Congress will pass a law postponing the barangay and SK elections. So padayon ang preparations nato,” Castillano said.

He added that Comelec doesn’t want a similar incident in 2010 when former president Benigno Aquino III announced to postpone the elections but Congress did not pass a law for the postponement.

“Nagkaboang intawon ang Comelec. Ang preparations haphazard. We don’t want it to happen again because in effect it will also cause inconvenience to voters. Until such time that Congress passes a law for elections’ postponement that is when we stop preparing for the elections,” he said.

He said if the registered voters want to exercise their right of suffrage, they have to raise their voices and plights to their district representatives.

“Let’s give it to the people to decide through their representatives in congress. Kun ganahan sila naa or wala’y elections they should communicate to their congressmen their voices kay sila may mopasar sa balaod,” he said.

The election of barangay officials was scheduled in October last year, but Congress extended their term by one year upon the President’s request.

Meanwhile, Governor Hilario Davide III, in his opposition to Duterte’s plan, said it is a "tedious process” for the president to appointments a barangay leader.

"Pila gud ka barangay all over the country, that's very tedious for the President. Ang katong i-screen ana nila ang itudlo nga barangay captain para nako madugay gyud na," Davide said.

The governor earlier expressed his opposition to the move to appoint barangay leaders, saying the constituents must be given the opportunity to choose their leader.

"If ang apprehension sa Presidente naa gihapon narcopolitics, ang mga tawo mismo makahibalo kinsa na ang mga kandidato nga involved sa drugs, so ila ng likayan. They will not vote for them," Davide said.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, for her part, supports Duterte’s plan, citing the pronouncement of the President that 40 percent of the barangay officials in the whole country are involved in illegal drugs.

Magpale also said the president should not only coordinate with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) but also consult the people's organization (PO) and the non -government organizations (NGO).

Magpale said the POs and NGOs are the ones who know more of the residents or constituents of certain places and they are the ones who normally speak for in behalf of the people.

In another development, Comelec-Cebu is set to purge voters’ personal data in its registration system owing to the reported data breach after a desktop computer of the Office of the Election Officer in Wao, Lanao del Sur was stolen.

Castillano said the Comelec just wants to protect the voters’ personal information and prevent people from using them in their illegal agenda.

“Among i-purge sa system ang national list of registered voters kay every municipality has it man for the local election offices to check kun transfer or registered ba sa laing lugar. We want to safeguard your data,” Castillano said, adding that this is also in compliance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Apart from the technical reforms, he said the voter and his/her duly authorized representative are only allowed to get voter certification and the voter’s information like birth date will no longer appear in the list of registered voters during elections only the name and precinct of the voter.

The National Privacy Commission earlier ordered the poll body to take serious measures to address its data processing vulnerabilities after the computer containing data from the Voter Registration System, Voter Search applications, National List of Registered Voters and biometrics of registered voters in Wao, Lanao del Sur, was stolen last January 11.