An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said they will find solutions to problems encountered during the mock polls held on Wednesday in some areas of the country.
In a Laging Handa briefing Thursday, Elaiza Sabile-David, director of the Comelec Education and Information Department (EID), said among the concerns that were raised during the activity are the feeding of the ballot into the machine and long queues.
“We noticed in areas where there were many participated, the problems we’ve seen involved ballot feeding, queuing. So maybe that should also be addressed because on the day of the election, there is more to it, there are more people that will participate,” she added.
David said she is certain that the Comelec will come up with guidelines as far as the health protocols are concerned for next year’s polls.
“That is probably a system that should be improved, especially since we have to maintain your distance, unlike the previous elections which were not included in our protocols during the election. We took note of that problem and the Comelec will discuss and we will be coming up with the protocol or guidelines on how to address that problem,” she added.
She also said there were no discrepancies in the transmission result.
The mock polls were held in the cities of Pasay and Taguig and the municipality of Pateros, and the provinces of Isabela, Albay, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Maguindanao and Davao del Sur.
On Wednesday, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the activity which was conducted in preparation for the May 2022 polls, was a success. It simulated the election process from voting to the canvassing of votes.
The Supreme Court (SC) meanwhile has issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) in favor of two party-list organizations seeking to join next year’s elections.
The TROs dated December 29 addressed to the Comelec was issued in favor of Abante Sambayanan (Sambayanan) and the Ayuda sa May Kapansanan.
The order also required Comelec to comment on the petitioner within 10 days.
The SC also asked the poll body to temporarily refrain from implementing its October 5 orders which rejected their registration as party-list groups and its resolution dated December 1 denying their motions for reconsideration.
The high court earlier issued similar TROs against the Comelec decision to deny the registration of three other party-list groups namely the Ang Tinig ng Seniors sa Filipinas Inc. the Alliance for Resilience, Sustainability and Empowerment (ARISE), represented by its president, Arze Glipo, and Igorot Warriors International Inc. (IWI), represented by its chairperson, Jerson Bantag.
The party-list system is an innovation of the Constitution seeking to allow underrepresented and marginalized sectors of society to gain a presence in the House of Representatives after obtaining a minimum threshold of votes nationwide.
Commissioner Rowena Guanzon earlier said the Comelec rejected 126 groups bidding to register as party-lists for the 2022 elections.
From October 1 to 8, a total of 270 party-list groups filed their Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance. Last October 25, the Comelec announced that the registration of 53 new groups was granted.