THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is adapting additional measures to ensure that the May 9 polls will not be a Covid-19 “super spreader” event, even as the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported massive violations of health protocols in just a span of four days.
Comelec Commissioner Aimee Neri, chair of the poll body’s new normal committee, bared this on Thursday at a news briefing with Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año and Philippine National Police chief General Dionardo Carlos at Camp Crame.
“While it is the constitutional mandate of the Comelec to conduct honest, orderly, peaceful and credible elections, it is also equally important for the Comelec to ensure public health on the election day. Because this is the first time that we are going to conduct national and local elections during pandemic,” she pointed out.
One measure being planned is the use of isolation voting places for voters who manifest symptoms of virus infection.
The Comelec also plans to create a medical advisory board to provide additional support in revisiting Covid-19 related guidelines and partner with health and medical groups for setting up medical desks on election day, to respond to voters’ health-related issues.
“The Comelec must be fully prepared on the prevention of Covid-19 transmission during the upcoming elections,” Neri said. “We are not out of the woods yet.”
The commissioner said an estimated 67.5 million registered voters representing more than half of the country’s total population are expected to cast their votes on May 9.
“With this, there is an urgent need to ensure health protocols will be observed and everyone would have the access to medical assistance,” Neri said.
Meanwhile, Año reiterated to local officials the prohibition on the distribution of cash and other forms of assistance during the campaign season, especially at rallies and sorties, reminding them that only 4Ps funds of the Department of Social and Welfare and Development and similar assistance were cleared by the poll body for distribution.
He disclosed that quite a number of local politicians, running for reelection and are the subjects of complaints of alleged vote buying, have been asked to explain their actions.
“We are against vote buying. The Comelec is formalizing a task force on this and the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) is included to look into these election campaign violations,” Año said.
The Comelec has already allowed the distribution of fuel subsidies to transport operators and drivers, including 1.2 million tricycle owners, but Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they should wait for the poll body’s resolution to be issued this week, as such order comes with restrictions and requirements.
Año reminded local officials to allow candidates to campaign in their areas, while mandating them to form transition committees early in order to ensure the smooth and orderly transfer of positions.
Aside from reported cases of vote buying, violations of the minimum health protocols have been recorded by the PNP, which logged 4,083 cases alone from April 1 up to 4.
The violations, which include non-wearing of facemasks, non-observance of physical distancing and holding of big gatherings, were mainly committed in campaign rallies since there are still areas that are under Covid-19 Alert Level 2, according to Police Lt. Gen. Ferdinand Divina.
Año admitted it is hard to make candidates answer for the violations of their supporters and followers, otherwise all of the country’s candidates would be held liable.
Divina also said that at least 300 areas around the country have been recommended to the Comelec to be declared as areas of concern. Of this number, 15 cities and 105 municipalities are categorized as “red,” or those needing focused police deployment and operations.
However, Jimenez said the police recommendations are “not yet validated.”
“We’re undertaking validations. Within a week we can release it. There’s room for validation at this point,” he said.
Still, the chief of the PNP, Gen. Carlos, said special operations task groups have been organized and deployed in some of the red areas, naming two of them as Samar and Masbate. —