Just as the President has ordered, a holiday for the Barangay and SK Election on the 14th May and the short campaign season are starting in two days. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) have been reported to lack volunteers for being Pollwatcher’s during these elections. The PPCRV has announced only to have 70,000 out of 370,000 needed personnel. This people needs training and are to assist the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
Therefore, the authorities has a lot of work to do, to secure the ballots and the elections in the coming days. If these reported numbers are true, as the elections has already been postponed more than once since October 2017.
We already know the COMELEC has saved a lot of headache with the Press Release in January 2018, where they stated: “The Commission on Elections is set to use the already printed October 23, 2017 official ballots, accountable and non-accountable forms for purposes of the May 14, 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Elections in an effort to save public funds and government resources”(COMELEC, 18.01.2018). That just begs the question if they can fill in new names on the ballot or if the candidates was pre-fixed for this election? Because times change, and someone might drop their candidate between the October 2017 and the May 2018.
Therefore, there are some hurdles for perfection concerning governance, though understandable from a budgetary standpoint. That is just from the offset questions that can be risen. That the applications and candidates for these elections might differ from the previous ones of last year.
The state clearly has postponed already twice, so they are in need of holding it. So they have legitimate local government bodies within the Republic. However, the simple questions, that are stated these days comes quickly to mind. When the Commissioners will lack PollWatchers.
There are 42,026 Barangays around the Republic, meaning there is in dire need of brief and quick teachings of process and protocol of Pollwatcher’s to overlook the election. To secure the credible results and secure a legitimate local government in and around the country. If there were only two polling stations in each Barangay, which is most likely to small of number, then the need for watchers would be 84,000 of them. However, the PPCRV asked for the estimated 370,000 and that has to be achieved.
A good thing about this election is the direct spending limit for candidates, as the incentive to spend money to buy voters should become less evident, even if previous elections has been filled with kick-backs and promises. “The spending limit for the #BSKE2018 is 5 pesos per voter in the barangay where the candidate is running for office. For Example: if Barangay X has 3,000 registered voters, then the spending cap for candidates running in Barangay X is 3,000 x 5 pesos, or 15,000 pesos. In the same example, if neighbouring Barangay Y has 20,000 voters, then the spending cap for Barangay Y candidates will be 20,000 x 5 pesos, or 100,000 pesos. Note that the spending limit is based on REGISTERED VOTERS, not population” (COMELEC, 2018).
I hope for good and clean campaigns, without too much interference and issues that overshadow the democratic process. However, you never know, when the Narco-Listed and Hot-Spots list are coming in a narrow time frame concerning the official holiday announcement.
We can just hope that the candidates are prepared, all the electoral bodies and that the Electoral Officials and everyone involved will deliver a credible election, where the will of the public happens and not predetermined results. There are some pieces you can question, because it leaves doubt in the voting material, but that might be altered to fit this compared to the ones in October 2017.
Let’s hope and see, hopefully the ones who has the most drive, talent and are accountable to their public. Get their places locally, not just political dynasties, and their narrative to control the pockets of their local barangay. Peace.
MinBane 