The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday reported that has already completed 80 percent of its preparations for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) in December.
This despite calls from some lawmakers to reset the date for the electoral exercise to allow the government to spend over P8 billion budget for the said activity for its pandemic response.
Comelec Commissioner George M. Garcia bared they are already about to start the final stages of their preparations for the BSKE.
“In the coming days, we will come out with the resolution and guidelines. In relation to this, we will be starting the printing of the ballots to be used in the polls,” Garcia said in Filipino in a television interview on Thursday.
He noted that even if Congress does decide to defer the BSKE, he said their preparations for the said activity would not be wasted.
“We will have no problem for our countrymen because all of our procurement, awarded contract for the delivery of election paraphernalia or equipment, which will be used if the 2022 [BSK] elections on December 5, 2022, will be reset,” Garcia said.
Even the ballots, which they will soon start to print, can still be used even if the upcoming BSKE is postponed, according to the poll official.
Currently, the bills to move the December BSKE to a new date is still pending in Congress.
Garcia, however, said in a Congressional hearing last week that the delay in the conduct of the BSKE next year may entail an additional cost since they would have to resume with the voter registration.
Image credits: Patrick Roque via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0