By Sammy F. Martin
MANILA, (PNA) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday assured that they are almost certain that they will declare postponement of barangay elections in Bohol which was severely hit by 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said that Chairman Sixto Brillantes flew to Bohol to personally assess the situation before making their final decision.
Comelec had already postponed the elections in war-torn Zamboanga City which was stormed by disgruntled members of the Moro National Liberation Front faction of former Chairman Nur Misuari, leaving hundreds of innocent civilians, soldiers, policemen and MNLF fighters dead.
The Comelec has yet to determine when to schedule elections in Zamboanga including date for filing of certificates of candidacy of aspirants for barangay chairmen and members of the barangay councils.
Early reports received by Comelec said that more than 50 public school buildings in Bohol have been badly damaged and declared condemned, he said.
“Makeshift polling centers are too expensive. We do not have budget for this,” Jimenez told reporters when asked if it is possible to build makeshift polling centers to give way for the scheduled barangay elections.
Barangay elections in Cebu which was also hit by the powerful quake will continue as scheduled after they have assessed that public school buildings were already declared safe after close scrutiny by experts, he said.
Asked if they have remedied the usual concern of teachers who claim that they are having difficulty in collecting their election allowances, Jimenez explained that before the start of the scheduled elections they have transferred the funds to local governments.
“We have appropriated P2,500 to P3,000 budget for every teacher who will manned polling places but the usual problems occur when the name submitted to seat in polling precincts did not show up on the day of the elections and was replace by another one,” Jimenez told mediamen at the weekly Saturday Forum @ Annabel’s in Quezon City.
The distribution of allowances of teachers needs to be orderly and this is the job of every local government as he appealed not to pass the buck to Comelec since they have done their part transferring the funds to LGUs’ authorized government bank.
Maguindanao teachers who refused to seat on election day fearing that opposing candidates might harass them will be replaced by soldiers or policemen to guarantee the safety of everybody aside from soldiers and policemen who are tasks to maintain peace and order,”Jimenez said.