Special polls to be held Dec. 15

The special elections for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan will be held in Pasay City and eight provinces on Dec. 15.

“Preparations are now underway. We may be requesting the Department of Budget and Management to release a budget for these special polls,” Resurreccion Borra, acting chairman of the Commission on Elections, said.

The barangays where special polls will be held are in Pasay City, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Cotabato, Basilan, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan and Maguindanao.

Borra said that almost nothing was left of the P2-billion budget earmarked for the barangay and SK polls held last Oct. 29.

“We are scratching the bottom. We can hardly give the benefits to our people,” he said at a press briefing. The poll body is preparing a report of its spending during the Oct. 29 polls.

The Comelec, Borra said, would be closely coordinating with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to ensure peaceful, honest and orderly special elections.

Borra said the poll body could not allow soldiers or policemen to become members of the Board of Election Tellers, as proposed by some sectors.

“We’ll go back to the teachers because they are the ones mandated by law (to supervise the elections),” he added.

As this developed, Comelec gave its provincial election supervisors and election supervisors five days from yesterday to receive complaints and evidence on electoral protest cases in the last polls. Such cases will then be forwarded to the Comelec for resolution.

Borra maintained that the scheme is part of Comelec’s efforts to speed up the resolution of poll cases. – Sheila Crisostomo