The Commission on Elections said it continues to prepare for the Oct. 23, 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections despite moves by Congress to postpone the local elections and the call for poll commissioner Andres Bautista to resign due to controversial issue of alleged P1-billion ill-gotten wealth exposed by his wife Patricia.
Comelec chairman Andres Bautista said the commission has bought forklift tractors for use at the national Printing Office for Comelec operations in connection with the Oct. 23, 2017 barangay and SK elections and preparing thousands of printed ballots to the provinces.
The Comelec bids and awards committee is bidding out two contracts for the supplies and courier services needed in the elections.
One contract is for the special courier services for Regions 9, 10, 11, 12, Caraga and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which costs P4.1 million.
Printing of election ballots continues and will print 77,261,086 ballots, including 56,468,566 ballots for the barangay elections and 20,792,520 ballots for the SK, the Comelec said.
Should the barangay and SK elections are rescheduled, Bautista said the Comelec has two options to recycle the official ballots.
Bautista, who insisted he would not yet resign from his post despite calls from six Comelec commissioners for him to take a leave of absence or resign, said that preparations continue even if it remains uncertain if the polls will push through.
“We have not yet been informed by Congress if it will push through or not in October,” he said in an interview.
He also denied that he is not performing well as the poll chief as earlier claimed by Comelec commissioners Rowena Guanzon, Christian Robert Lim, Al Parreño, Luie Tito Guia, Arthur Lim, and Sheriff Abas, because of the controversy involving his wife.
“I wanted the public to know that I can effectively perform my duties as Comelec chief. “I am always reporting for my work almost everyday,” Bautista said.
However, he admitted that it won’t take a long time before he decides to resign, adding he was waiting for a “sign from the above.”
“I am still praying for God’s guidance on what to do,” he added.