Palawan plebiscite ‘dry run’ for 2022 polls, says Comelec

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking at the plebiscite in Palawan province on Saturday as a “sort of dry run” for the 2022 national elections to determine the capability of the poll body to hold an electoral exercise during a pandemic, when health and security restrictions are tight.

“Because of the pandemic, we can say that it can be a dry run for the holding of the 2022 elections in terms of safety and security aspects. We will see how prepared is the Comelec, the people and our partner agencies to conduct the 2022 elections,” Comelec Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr. said here on Thursday.

Part of the preparation was a briefing for members of the board of election canvassers on how to manage the plebiscite process while complying with health protocols, such as maintaining physical distance outside and inside voting precincts, and ensuring that bottles or dispensers of alcohol for sanitizing hands are available in these areas, poll officials said.

Voters and everyone involved in the plebiscite would be required to wear masks at all times.

“The wearing of face mask is mandatory, whether they are poor or rich,” said Teopisto Elnas Jr., Comelec deputy executive director for operations.

Health declaration

Elnas, however, said wearing of face shields would only be “encouraged,” as there were voters from the province’s indigenous communities who could not afford to buy these.

“We know that Palawan is divided by islands. There is no supply of face shields in their areas, which might be the reason for them not to participate. [There are] people from the mountains, our native brothers, who cannot [even] afford to buy rice. This is also for their equal rights,” he said.

Each voter would be required to fill out a health declaration form at health stations to be set up in voting centers.

Isolation tents or rooms will be set up in each voting center for those who would register body temperature higher than 37.5 degrees Celsius, or those who would exhibit other symptoms associated with coronavirus infection, Elnas added.

The ballots have all been delivered except those intended for 281 voters of Kalayaan, the country’s last frontier town in the West Philippines Sea.

“We have a contingency plan. A boat will ferry the ballots [to Kalayaan] tomorrow (Friday),” Kho told reporters here.

No untoward incident

Lawyer Urbano Arlando, provincial election supervisor, said they had not received any “untoward incident” in the run-up to the plebiscite, noting that poll officials were hoping it would stay that way.

Police Lt. Col. June Rian, spokesperson for the Palawan police, said no election hot spots had been identified in the province.

But Cynthia Sumagaysay del Rosario, lead campaigner for One Palawan Movement (OPM), earlier said her group received reports of vote-buying.

Lawyer Christian Jay Cojamco, head of the legal team of Partidong Pagbabago ng Palawan that is supporting the split, dismissed Del Rosario’s claim and dared her to show evidence to back the allegation.

Comelec officials said they were expecting at least half of the 490,639 registered voters to join the exercise that would decide the fate of Republic Act No. 11259, the law dividing the province into Palawan del Norte, Palawan del Sur and Palawan Oriental. A low turnout would not, however, affect the outcome of the exercise, as the ratification or rejection of the division would be decided by the total number of votes cast, local election officials earlier said.

Kho asked Palawan residents to be “patient” as the plebiscite would be done manually, with the tally of the results expected to be completed by March 16.