Over 1,500 cops take over teachers’ poll duties in ARMM

MANILA, Philippines - More than 1,500 policemen have taken over as special board of election tellers (SBETs) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after some teachers backed out, fearing for their lives.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Superintendent Miguel Antonio said 474 policemen from Metro Manila and 261 from Calabarzon will be sent to Maguindanao.

“Our policemen traveled by land, taking them 36 to 40 hours trip by land just to work as SBETs after some teachers refused to perform as election tellers for fear of their lives and security,” he said.

 A total of 47,776 checkpoints have been set up nationwide since the start of the election period last Sept. 28, resulting in the arrest of 613 violators of the gun ban, Antonio said.

The Philippine National Police only received P60 million funds from the Commission on Elections, less than the P300 million used in the May national and local elections.

Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., National Task Group commander for SAFE 2013-Alpha, said the PNP will still ensure orderly and peaceful elections in 42,028 barangays nationwide despite the lack of funds.

A commissioner said the Comelec only has P100 million available funds to be divided between the PNP and Armed Forces on a 60/40 percent scheme.

In the Cordillera Administrative Region, Chief Superintendent Benjamin Magalong said their monitoring showed that about 65 percent of the election process had been completed before noon yesterday.

The Department of Education has assured public school teachers serving in the elections of support in case of problems arising from the performance of their duties.

The DepEd ETF operation center is operational until noon today.

The Comelec has set aside P30 million for election-related death or injuries involving DepEd personnel performing election-related duties.

Under Comelec Resolution No. 9751, teachers serving as members of the BET in the barangay polls will each get P2,000 honorarium and P500 transportation allowance.

The compensation will come from the local governments where the BETs have served.

Teachers, principals or supervisors serving as supervising officials during the election are entitled to a P1,000 honorarium while support staff will get P500 each.

The different chairmen of BETs serving as chairman, vice-chairman and member-secretary of the barangay Board of Canvassers (BOC) shall also receive an honorarium of P1,000 if the number of clustered precincts is between one to five; P1,500 if between six to 10 precincts and P2,000 if the clustered precincts number 11 and above.

PPCRV wants computerized voters’ list

Henrietta de Villa, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chairperson, said   she will ask Congress and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to allocate funds for a unified computerized voters’ list (CVL) to avoid disenfranchisement of voters.

De Villa said they have received reports of voters failing to find their names in polling precincts yesterday.

A voter’s name was found in the posted CVL (PCVL), but was missing from the Election Day CVL (ED-CVL), she added.

The voter said he was able to vote last May so he should have been qualified in yesterday’s barangay election, she added.

De Villa  said disenfranchisement is a perennial problem during elections.

“During the term of former Commission on Elections chairman Jose Melo, all the field officers were given an orientation and skills training and they had a common mechanism for collating from the field (the names of those who voted) and collating from the Comelec central office,” she said.

“But they encounter a problem because when it comes to the budget deliberation, Congress or DBM removes the budget allocation. Maybe they do not appreciate the process. – With Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan, Pia Lee-Brago