Back to manual polls

September 1, 2010, 5:51pm

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Wednesday that the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls set for October 25, 2010, will be back to manual balloting.

For the October 25 elections, we will use the traditional ballots where the voters manually write the names of the candidates they want to vote for as in previous elections, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said.

He said the Comelec en banc decided to revert to the traditional manual type of ballot instead of using a pre-printed ballot due to time constraints.

“The proposal to do the shading of names was discussed. However, there is no time to do that since you have to verify the names of the candidates, print out the ballots… it would be difficult,” said Larrazabal.

The Comelec also announced that the filing of certificates of candidacy (CoCs) for the October 25 polls will be from October 1 to October 13, 2010.

Section 7 of the Barangay Election Act of 1982 states that “no person shall be eligible to be a barangay official unless he is a citizen of the Philippines; a registered voter and actual resident of the barangay for at least six months immediately preceding the election; is able to read and write; is at least 21 years of age on the date of the election; and who is not otherwise disqualified by law.”

Filing will be done with the Secretary of the Barangay Council who, in turn, has the ministerial duty to receive and acknowledge the CoC filed.

The campaign period, however, will be from October 14 to October 23 for both for barangay and SK candidates.

Comelec Resolution 9019 also set the election period beginning on September 25 until November 10.

Prohibited acts during the election period include alteration of precincts, establishment of new precincts, illegal release of prisoners, carrying of firearms, maintenance of private armies, transfer of public employees, suspension of public officials, and the use of personnel security or bodyguards.

by mb