The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said it is ready to move the filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC) for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) once a law postponing the same is enacted.
“In the filing of COCs, if it is signed, the Commission en banc will discuss this, if we will no longer continue with the COC filing by October 22. There may be problems in case they were able to file COC, which might create confusion,” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in a press briefing after the oath-taking of newly appointed Commissioners Nelson Celis and Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr. in Pasay City.
The 2022 BSKE filing period is set from Oct. 22 to 29. The poll body chief noted that their only purpose for a possible halt in the ballot printing is to change the date of the polls.
“In the printing of the ballot, if we stop, the only purpose is to make a new template. To reflect the new date of BSKE,” he said.
Early this month, the Comelec started the printing of close to 92 million ballots, which consist of 67,061,585 ballots for village voters, and 24,457,363 ballots for youth voters.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives already ratified the measure postponing the Dec. 5 BSKE to the last Monday of October 2023. The bill is awaiting the signature of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. before it becomes a law.
The Comelec meanwhile said its seven-man en banc is now complete with the appointment of Commissioners Ernesto Ferdinand P. Maceda, Jr. and Nelson J. Celis, who took their respective Oaths of Office on Monday.
Garcia welcomed the new members of the poll body who will complete the seven-member en banc composed of himself along with Commissioners Socorro Inting, Marlon Casquejo, Aimee Ferolino, and Rey Bulay.
The Comelec said that Maceda and Celis will be assuming their respective offices immediately, completing the process of their being part of the seven-member Comelec en banc through their ad interim appointments on Oct. 6.
Maceda will be joining the Comelec First Division composed of Commissioner Inting (Presiding) and Commissioner Ferolino, while Commissioner Celis will be part of the COMELEC Second Division
composed of Commissioner Casquejo (Presiding) and Commissioner Bulay.
Maceda will head the Task Force Kontra Bigay, the anti-vote buying/selling arm of the Commission, among others and will likewise be involved in the poll body’s Election Law Reforms Committee.
Celis, a licensed electronics and communications engineer, will lead the Election Stakeholder’s Summit scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.