The Commission on Election (Comelec) is anticipating a lower turnout of voters in the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in Marawi City next month.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said many of the voters in the city of Lanao Del Sur were displaced following a siege mounted by the Islamic State-Maute terror group last year.
He said many of these voters might no longer opt to return to their designated voting area for the BSKE in Marawi City on Sept. 22, 2018.
“It could be a real challenge, especially for those still staying in evacuation centers… but there’s nothing we can do about that. The elections will be held within the territorial jurisdiction of Marawi,” Jimenez said.
To recall, Comelec suspended the BSKE in Marawi City due to the prevailing security concerns in the city after the terrorist incursion.
The poll official also admitted they are still finalizing its list of voting centers in Marawi City after the five-month siege had left many of city structures in ruins.
“We are continuously scouting for possible locations… The voting centers will be ready to receive them,” Jimenez said.
Earlier this month, the poll body finally released the calendar of activities for the BSKE in Marawi City.
“Under the rules, as soon as the reason for the suspension no longer exists, you have to hold elections right away. That is within 30 days or within a reasonable time. This is within a reasonable time,” Jimenez said.
Its election period begins on August 17, 2018 and will run until September 29, 2018. During that period the necessary prohibitions will be in place, including the gun ban.
Meanwhile, the campaign period will be from September 12 to 20.
Coordinating panels
As this developed, the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), activated anew its coordinating committees to signal their intention to help in the rehabilitation of the war-flattened Marawi City.
The two parties have agreed to undertake a Joint Coordination, Monitoring and Assistance Center (JCMAC), which was activated only on Thursday last week, as the sounding board of residents on their reaction and participation in the rehabilitation as well as to link them to the government agencies involved in the program.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) carried the statement of the two parties in an Internet posting on Sunday, and described the JCMAC as the one which had accomplished a crucial role during the siege of Marawi City last year, when it became a mechanism to retrieve hundreds of trapped residents.
The posting quoted Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF Implementing Panel, as saying the reactivation is “a very modest intervention on the part of the MILF, in partnership with the government”.
“The main reason we are there is to help in the healing process, and help them journey the difficulties of their lives after the Marawi siege that really destroyed the beautiful city of Marawi,” Iqbal said.
“At least the people of Marawi City will feel that we really care for them, most especially the victims of the Marawi siege,” he added.
Iqbal said the reorganization of JCMAC is “an indication that this is a work in progress. Although we cannot promise something big happening, at least we are with them in spirit and of course bodily.”
During the siege last year, the JCMAC created two peace corridors: one to help extract trapped civilians in the conflict zone, and the other to provide a humanitarian corridor to bring needed food and other assistance to the victims of the siege.
The Opapp said the peace corridors were able to rescue at least 255 civilians in the siege and allowed international and local donors to pass through the critical Malabang area to Marawi.
This time, the Opapp said the signed agreement last week reactivating the JCMAC would continue the concept of the peace corridor where the MILF would assume “an approachable and neutral mechanism for the people of Marawi City and the Lanao areas to raise their concerns to the government”.
It said the JCMAC would be the mechanism to address “emerging needs and challenges, particularly on the security situation on the ground and the rise of violent extremism”.