Election execs undergo poll preparation training

Election officers from Cebu and other Central Visayas provinces underwent a two-day briefing and seminar in Bohol in preparation for the coming May 14 elections.

Led by Commission on Elections regional director Ray Rene Buac, hundreds of election officers from the region attended the activity held at the Bohol Plaza Hotel in Tagbilaran City last Tuesday and yesterday.

Comelec commissioner Resureccion Borra, Comelec in-charge for Central and Western Visayas, oriented the participants on their duties and responsibilities during the elections.

Cebu City election officer for the south district Federico Sanchez said the Comelec would also schedule similar activity for the division supervisors, district supervisors, principals and teachers of different schools who will take part in the coming election.

With this, he said teachers who would participate in the elections as Board of Election Inspectors would know the offenses and penalties stated under the Omnibus Election Code, and would be guided accordingly to avoid future problems.

Meanwhile, Comelec regional attorney Lionel Marco Castillano has clarified that they will only accommodate formal complaints filed against government employees allegedly engaging in electioneering or against candidates exploiting public servants and using government resources.

Castillano advised those who know of government employees involving in politics or candidates exploiting government employees and resources to file a written complaint before their office instead of just calling their office to report such cases.

Reporting election-related offenses through telephone cannot be easily substantiated while a formal written complaint is subscribed and sworn to under oath, he added.

According to him, entertaining only formal complaints erases the absence of any bias by the Comelec office, as it needs to maintain impartiality in treating such cases.

Castillano urged the public to report election-related violations formally as their office does not have sufficient manpower to monitor all political rallies and caravans for abuses under the election guidelines.

He clarified that those government employees attending political rallies are not guilty of electioneering as it is a right of every voter to listen to the agenda of any candidate in order to aid him to choose qualified leaders. — Wenna A. Berondo/LPM