Voter registration to resume by June or July–Comelec

The registration of voters will resume by June or July in time for the conduct of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in December, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday.

“Those qualified individuals who haven’t registered yet, you may take advantage of the resumption of registration of voters this June or at least by the first week of July this year,” said Comelec Commissioner George Garcia at a press briefing.

Village polls may be reset

Garcia, meanwhile, denied speculations that the Comelec has already used up the budget for the barangay elections.

“That is not true. No budget has been given to us for barangay elections. The national elections has just concluded, why would they already give us a budget for barangay elections?” he said.

“You can always verify with the DBM (Department of Budget and Management), the budget for the barangay election of 2022 supposedly by December is still intact,” Garcia added.

House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, who is being pushed to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, earlier said that the 19th Congress is eyeing to reschedule the barangay elections set this December in order to save P8 billion, which could be used to fight the pandemic.

Romualdez said the postponement of the barangay elections this year was among the requests by the barangay chairs they met in the League of Barangays recently.

Meanwhile, the Comelec is conducting an investigation and may file charges against those who would be found liable for the alleged disposal of poll paraphernalia in a vacant lot in Amadeo, Cavite province.

Over the weekend, reports showing photos and videos of election paraphernalia found in a vacant lot in Amadeo circulated on social media.

The election paraphernalia were packed inside boxes, which were used to deploy official ballots. The boxes had labels indicating they were from Jose Rizal Elementary School, which served as a polling center in Tondo, Manila.

Violation of contract

“There is a contract and if there is a violation of the contract or they did not fulfill their contractual obligation, then we can always either rescind the contract, or lessen the payment if there are damages or; we can withhold payment until we are fully satisfied with the situation. At the same time, we can always prosecute,” Garcia said.

He added that the person who was in possession of the poll paraphernalia may be held accountable as it may be considered infidelity in the custody of public documents under the Revised Penal Code, and a violation of a penal clause under their contract.

Acting Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the poll body had already asked F2 Logistics, its service provider for the transport of ballots, vote-counting machines and other supplies for the May 9 elections, to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident.