MANILA, Philippines – Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Andres Bautista hoped the decision to postpone the upcoming barangay polls would come out soon so that the government resources being used for its preparation would not be wasted.
“Kami ay tuloy-tuloy lang (in the preparation). Pero sana nga magkaroon na ng pasya at maliwanag na solusyon… S’yempre, masasayang po ang pondo ng kaban ng bayan kung kami ay patuloy sa paghahanda tapos hindi naman po matuloy,” he said in an interview with dzRH radio on Thursday.
(We are continuously preparing. But I hope there will be a decision and a clear solution soon… Of course, the government funds will be wasted if we continue preparing and then it will be postponed.)
Bautista recalled that they managed to refrain from spending too much in the preparations during the previous postponements of the polls because lawmakers informed the Comelec their clear intent to pass a law deferring the barangay elections.
“Sa unang pagpapaliban, medyo maliwanag ang direksyon. At no’ng kami po ay pumunta sa Senado at Kamara, sinabihan kami na talagang gusto nilang magpasa ng batas,” he said.
(In the first postponement, the direction was quite clear. And when went to the Senate and the House of Representatives, we were told that they really wanted to pass a law.)
But now, the Comelec has yet to be informed a clear direction on the matter, according to the Comelec chief.
Bautista nevertheless acknowledged the filing of the bill postponing the 2017 barangay elections by Surigao del Norte 2nd district Representative Robert “Ace” Barbers.
House Bill 5359 seeks to postpone the 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataang elections and to give the president appointing authority over barangay officials in order to get rid of illegal drugs infecting the country’s basic political unit.
But unless a law is passed, he said the Comelec would not stop preparing for the polls.
“Ang talagang dapat mangyari ay magkaroon ng batas kasi ang batas lang po ang p’wedeng magpaliban ng ating halalan [What needs to happen is to have a law because only a law can postpone the elections)” he said.
“Ngayon, kapag nakita na namin na maliwanag ang direksyon at ‘yon (referring to the postponement of elections) ang ginawa namin, medyo binabagalan na namin ang paghahanda at medyo tinitipid ang mga gastos para nga naman gamitin itong perang ito kapag talaga magkakaroon na po tayo ng halalan,” he added.
[Now, if there is a clear direction and we did postpone elections, then we will be slowing down the preparations and we will start being thrifty with our expenses so that we can use the money when we finally have elections.]
Despite the uncertainty, Bautista still urged the people to register as voters. The deadline for voter registration is on April 29, 2017.
“Maganda na kayo ay nakapagrehistro dahil mabibigyan kayo ng pagkakataong bumoto kung hindi man dito sa halalan gaganapin sa Oktubre ay sa mga susunod na halalan [It will be good for you to register because you will be given an opportunity to vote, if not in the October elections, in the next polls],” he said.
He also mentioned that if the polls would push through, it would be the first time that the SK Reform Law with an anti-political dynasty provision would be implemented.
