The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will no longer be able to conduct the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on December 5 if the Supreme Court (SC) approves the petition of election lawyer Romulo Macalintal.
Macalintal has asked the SC to reject Republic Act 11935, which reschedules the BSKE to next year.
During a hearing on the Comelec’s budget, Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia said the poll body had to slow down their preparations after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the law postponing the BSKE.
“As far as the Comelec is concerned, we prepared fully, but as of October 10, 2022, we slowed down the preparation because of the law signed by the President. And so, if we will be asked if we are ready to hold the elections by December 5, then we will say that there is no material time on the part of the commission to proceed with the election by December,” Garcia said.
He also said Comelec “will proceed with the printing of the ballots later and such other activities in relation to October 2023 elections,” he further said.
If the SC will order the Comelec to proceed with the elections this December, Garcia stressed they can no longer do it, especially the printing of ballots and procurement of other needed materials and equipment.
The Comelec will face the SC today for an oral argument regarding Macalintal’s petition.
Garcia also said in the same hearing that the P500 million given to the Comelec by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would not be enough to even build a foundation for the building that the Comelec is eyeing.
In the same hearing, Sen. Imee Marcos questioned Garcia on what the Comelec will do if only P500 million is provided.
“To be very honest and frank, not many contractors may participate in the bidding, if it will only be P500 million,” Garcia said.
The Gabriela party-list on Sunday meanwhile welcomed an order from the Comelec dismissing the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s final attempt to investigate another entity’s bank accounts in relation to its petition to cancel the registration of the sole women’s partylist.
In an Oct. 19 order, the Comelec trashed the repetitive attempt of the NTF-ELCAC to scrutinize the bank accounts of Gabriela Inc., a non-government organization, which is not a party to the case.
“Comelec dismissed for three times the attempt of the NTF-ELCAC,” Rep. Arlene Brosas said.
“With the recent Comelec order, the NTF-ELCAC is now grasping at straws in its allegation of foreign funding, aside from clutching at concocted stories of fake rebels. We are confident that the truth will soon be affirmed and all the lies against us will be debunked,” she stressed.
In its order, the Comelec also described NTF-ELCAC’s second motion for reconsideration as a “dilatory motion,” and thus shall not be allowed.