The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is hopeful that the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will push through this December.
“Confident po kami na on track po tayo at maisasagawa po natin ang barangay at SK elections sa December 5,” Comelec acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said on Friday.
The Comelec’s preparations contain three major steps. The first one is voter registration, which is scheduled to end on July 23.
Currently, there are around 2.1 million new registered voters.
The second step is the promulgation of necessary resolutions for the elections, which will be conducted by the Comelec en banc soon.
The final step is to produce election-related paraphernalia, such as ballot papers, printing services, and accountable and non-accountable forms.
Meanwhile, the poll body’s P8.44 billion budget for the upcoming polls is still unspent.
“Lahat po ito ay on track sa kani-kanilang mga schedule at maayos naman po ang budget pati na rin po ‘yung mga kawani ng Comelec na may tasking para sa pagsasagawa nito,” the Comelec official said.
Earlier, several bills have been filed aiming for the postponement of the barangay and SK polls. Lawmakers said that doing this will save the national government billions of pesos, which can be used for other relevant issues.
— Ronald Espartinez