By Noel Y. Punzalan
COTABATO CITY, (PNA) — Confusion marked the distribution of election materials early Monday morning here after a huge number of teachers backed out at the last minute to serve as Board of Election Tellers (BETs) for the barangay polls.
Sr. Supt. Rolen Balquin, city police director, said 33 cops were immediately tapped to act as special BETs to replace the teachers in their poll duties.
“The teachers have backed out for no clear reason. We have yet to investigate the matter in coordination with the Commission on Elections,” he said.
Late last week, nine cops were tasked to man as SBETs in three villages here, namely Tamontaka Mother, Tamontaka 3 and Tamontaka 4, after teachers refused to serve as BETs for the polls due to security reasons.
Balquin said they would be closely monitoring the conduct of polls in the city’s 37 villages to avert any untoward incidents.
Poll centers here simultaneously opened at 7:00 a.m. for the October 28 election exercise.