Comelec: Preps for Marawi village polls ‘almost done’

“Percentage wise, we are already 95-percent prepared. So, all preparations are already in place.” (File Photo By Elmer B. Domingo – Own work/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is almost done with the preparations for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) in Marawi City on September 22.

Comelec Project Director for Marawi Elections Teopisto Elnas noted that they are 95 percent prepared to hold the said polls.

“Percentage wise, we are already 95-percent prepared. So, all preparations are already in place,” he said in a press conference at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez reported that they started printing a total of 76,384 official ballots.

A total of 50,893 ballots were to be printed for village voters while 25,491 ballots are for youth voters.

Jimenez noted that the printing of the almost 80,000 official ballots will only run for 75 minutes.

Likewise, set to be printed are 354 sets of election returns or 177 sets each for barangay and SK votes.

He also reported that a total of 234 and 862 Certificates of Candidacy (COC) were filed for Barangay Chairman and Barangay Kagawad, respectively.

As for the youth polls, Jimenez said 162 COCs filed for Chairman post; and another 193 looking to run for the position of Kagawad.

Meanwhile, the poll body has identified five alternative voting centers, where voters from the barangays within the so-called “ground zero” will be voting on election day.

These are the Multi-Purpose Hall in Area 4, Barangay Sagonsongan; Marawi Central Elementary Pilot School and Dansalan Integrated School in Area 2, Barangay Sagonsongan; Bito Elementary School in Barangay Bito Buadi Parba; Rorogagus Elementary School in Barangay Rorogagus Proper; and Calocan Elementary School East District in Barangay Calocan East.

A total of 27 affected barangays with 15,096 registered voters are set to vote in the 51 clustered precincts in the five alternative voting centers.