THE Commission on Elections has extended the deadline for the application for the local absentee voting from March 7 to March 31.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, chairperson of the poll body’s committee on local absentee voting, said the commission decided to extend the deadline until the end of the month.
“Comelec En Banc moved the deadline of application for local absentee voting to March 31,” she posted on her Twitter account.
The decision to extend was due to their desire to enable more qualified voters to avail of the LAV.
“Because we only have more than 6,000 applicants and we have to give others time to apply,” said Guanzon.
“As of March 2, 2016, no one from the media applied for local absentee voting,” said Guanzon.
So far, there are 6,613 applicants for LAV with members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines having the most number with 5,522.
A total of 967 members of the Philippine National Police have already applied for LAV; followed by 96 from the Comelec; 19 from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology; seven from the Department of Education; and one each from the Department of Interior and Local Government and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.
Qualified in the LAV are government officials and employees, members of the PNP, members of the AFP, and media practitioners that are registered voters but will not be able to vote on Election Day due to the performance of their functions.
The date for the local absentee voters is from April 27 to 29 in their designated place of voting.
They will be voting only for the positions of president, vice president, senators, and party-list group.
In a bid to ensure that there will be an adequate supply of electricity in Mindanao on Election Day, the Comelec has deputized the military and the police to help the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in repairing and maintaining its transmission towers.
Based on Comelec Resolution No. 10067, the Comelec said it is deputizing the AFP and the PNP to provide NGCP personnel the necessary security in fixing transmission towers in Mindanao.
“The Commission resolves… to provide sufficient personnel to secure the nationwide transmission lines, substations, and other related power facilities,” the Comelec resolution dated March 1, stated.
“… Provide assistance to and coordinate with the NGCP to implement clearing of the nationwide transmission facilities to include substations, towers and other related power facilities, in support of its systems operations functions,” it added.
The move came after the Department of Energy and NGCP sought the assistance of the Comelec in enhancing the formers’ capability to repair and maintain the transmission towers in Mindanao.
According to the DOE and NGCP, such failure to repair and provide maintenance to the power lines in Mindanao puts in peril the power supply come Election Day.
“Whereas, there is an urgent need to provide support to the DOE and NGCP to ensure the sufficient uninterrupted electrical power supply and secure the transmission infrastructure and facilities during the elections,” the Comelec said.
The vote counting machines to be used in the May national and local polls each have a battery supply that is good for 14 to 15 hours while each voting center has been assigned one generator set.
In an interview, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said they were left with no other recourse but to come out with the resolution considering the proximity of the next elections.