Comelec will already resume on August 1 with the registration and revalidation of voters for the 2020 Barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan elections. /CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cebu will continue with their preparations for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections scheduled on May 2020 until such time that a law is passed for its postponement to 2022.
Lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, Cebu provincial election officer, said they already started training election officers on the updated system and process on voter registration.
This is in preparation for the resumption of voter registration and reactivation scheduled from August 1 until September 31.
Gujilde said they are also in the process of coordinating with the different barangays in Cebu province for the opening of satellite voter registration areas there.
“Padayon gihapon ang Comelec kay despite the pronouncement of the President, wala man gyuy kasigurohan kung i-postpone ba gyud nila (Congress) or dili kay it is an act of congress,” Gujilde said.
(We will continue with our calendar of activities because it remains uncertain if Congress will heed the President’s request for the postpone the elections.)
Read More: Duterte calls on Congress: Postpone barangay polls from 2020 to 2022
“(But) of course, if the President has asked them (Congress), there is really a persuasive effect especially that the Congress is said to be composed of a ‘supermajority’ in favor of the President. There is really a possibility that they will reset the elections. However, the Comelec, not unless there is an amendatory law that says they will reset it, we shall continue with our preparation as if the elections will be on May 2020,” Gujilde said.
Provincial Board Member Celestino Martinez III, president of ABC Cebu Province Chapter, said that the President’s call to postpone the Barangay and SK election to 2022 was reasonable.
He said that a two-year term for barangay officials is not enough the ensure the completion of programs and projects that they started to implement shortly after their election on May 2018. /dcb