COMMISSION on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista found another reason to postpone the village and youth council elections scheduled for October and instead suggested the polls be synchronized with the election of the envisioned Constitutional Convention next year.
“Given that we will have an election this October [for village and youth council officials] and possibly another by January [for the members of the proposed Constitutional Convention], the interval might be too short,” Bautista told the reporters in an interview.
“I am not sure if [legislators want a Constitutional Convention election in] January or May 2017. If that will push through, we need to think what we need to do. First and foremost, do we need to postpone our Barangay and SK elections because of that?” Bautista said.
Plus, Bautista said, synchronizing the barangay elections with an election of members of the proposed Constitutional Convention will also save up to P6 billion, the estimated cost for a manual election with more inspectors.
“Our estimate is it will really need about Php 5 to Php 6 billion. I believe it will be better if we just synchronize them so that we can save P5 to P6 billion,” Bautista said without explaining why the Comelec will not use the automated election system used in the May election.
He recognized, however, that talk of a Constitutional Convention is premature since Congress has not even begun to debate the proposal.
“We just continue with our preparations. As long as there is no law passed postponing the Barangay and SK elections, it will be pushing through. So we really need to start preparing,” he added.
Last week, the poll body has opened the bidding process for the supply of 233,500 ballot boxes and printing of various election forms and envelopes to be used in the October polls. The Comelec has earmarked P695 million for election forms and ballot boxes.
Suppliers are being invited to bid for three separate contracts, including the printing and delivery of envelopes worth P21.5 million, printing and delivery of election forms worth P31.3 million and supply and delivery of ballot boxes worth P642.1 million.
The Comelec will hold a prebid conference on July 11 at 10 a.m. at the Palacio del Gobernador building, while the pre-bid conferences for the two other contracts are on July 13.
Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia also announced their plan to hold the registration of voters from July 15 to 31.
Guia said that they cannot prolong the registration period because of the proximity of the village and youth polls.
According to Guia, people who object to the registrations have 15 days in August to file their protest.
Meanwhile, the National Movement for Free Elections on Monday opposed the idea of postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
Namfrel Secretary General Eric Alvia slammed Bautista’s insistency and expressing their opposition on the said postponement.
“The Barangay and SK elections should definitely be held this October,” Alvia demanded. “There should be regularity in holding elections and our Constitution mandates this.”