Comelec poll preparations almost complete

CEBU, Philippines - Commission on Elections Officer for the Cebu City north district Marchel Sarno yesterday said that preparations for the coming elections are underway and very near completion.

“Plantsado na tanan. So far we were able to follow our timetable,” Sarno said.

The training for teachers which is the major part of the preparation is about 50 percent complete, he said. Last March 8, they started the training for teachers who will serve as Board of Election Inspectors during the elections on May 10.

Sarno said they are set to finish the training by the end of March. There are 520 teachers undergoing the training for the north district and 600 teachers for the south. They shall serve in 560 clustered precincts identified for the city.

Sarno also said that the problem of teachers who were delisted because they voted in another area where they were tasked to serve was already settled.

There were about 30 to 50 teachers affected in the city but Sarno said they have reconciled their file and were able to register the teachers where they were originally registered through data swapping.

Last February 27, the last batch of Precinct Count Optical Scanner machines to be used for canvassing already arrived in the country completing the 82,200 machines needed.

Sarno said that 560 machines for Cebu City will probably arrive here on the last week of April.

Comelec Cebu City will start distributing machines to the voting centers five days before the elections.

Machines must already be in the precincts at least three days before May 10.

Police personnel will be deployed to secure the machines from any reconfiguration.

Sarno said that Cebu City has no problem with the number of police personnel they can deploy because there are enough in the city. He said that problem will be areas with only few police personnel but with many barangays.

The Comelec also started reminding local candidates of the prohibitions and regulations on their mode of campaigning once the campaign period for local candidates starts on March 26.

Sarno said that local candidates must start taking note of the authorized sizes of their campaign materials as well as the areas identified by Comelec as common poster areas.

He said that even if candidates are given three days after the campaign kickoff to remove their campaign materials that do not pass the requirement, it is better for them to start removing before March 26.

Sarno reminded the public that should they find the need to complain against violating candidates, they are encouraged to file a complaint before the prosecutor’s office. –Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)