BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Elections has deputized barangay officials in Negros Occidental to help in monitoring and reporting the conduct of all election activities in their respective areas, to ensure that it complies with the minimum health standards and protocols.
Provincial Comelec Supervisor Roberto Salazar yesterday said that the campaign for national elective positions starts today.
As stipulated under COMELEC Resolution 10732 that lays down the rules for in- person campaigns, motorcades and rallies. Salazar said that the poll body will regulate the movement of candidates.
National candidates will need to get a permit to hold election campaign activities from the Regional COMELEC Campaign Committee (RCCC) where he or she will kick off their campaigns, Salazar said.
Except for areas where there are high COVID-19 cases or security threat, the RCCC will usually approve it, he added.
Salazar said he is set to meet with members of the Provincial COMELEC Campaign Committee (PCCC) today to discuss their action plan.
The PCCC is composed of the highest-ranking health official in the province with representatives of the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The DILG is included because they have supervision over local officials, especially those in the barangays.
If their reports are tainted with bias, he said that it will be the DILG who will deal with them.
We can also conduct random inspection of the election activities to ensure that candidates comply with the rules, especially the health protocols, he stressed.
Salazar added that the COMELEC has adopted the alert level system followed by the national Inter- Agency Task Force depending on the COVID-19 cases in an area.*
