Breathing spell from politics

Barely over and done with the just concluded May 12 national and local elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is already gearing up to conduct the next polls taking place in our country five months from now.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

Set on Oct. 1 this year, the seven-man poll body has started preparations for the first ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections, or BPE for brevity's sake.

And if the outgoing 19th Congress fails to pass into law the proposed bill on amending the present three-year term of office of barangay officials, Comelec will also proceed to prepare for the holding of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) on Dec. 1 this year. The BSKE was last held in October 2023.

At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Comelec Chairman George Garcia disclosed he has requested from the Executive branch the release of a P2.7-billion budget so they could start preparations for the BPE. Like the midterm elections, Garcia announced the BPE will also be using the same automated election system (AES) provided by Miru of South Korea. And since the Comelec only has a "rental" contract with Miru, it will be a "repeat order" for the 7,000 AES machines that will be distributed to each of the polling precincts in the BARMM provinces, the Comelec chief elaborated.

Speaking for the Comelec, Garcia is excited for the BPE which, for the first time, will print out ballots that will contain three new features. Foremost of which, he cited, the ballots will have the photos of each candidate. Second, the official logo representing each political party appears on the ballots. And third, an item for "none of the above" is added at the end of the list of choices of candidates in the ballot, Garcia gushed.