MANILA, Philippines — The task force managing the country’s COVID-19 situation is eyeing the possibility of having next year’s elections spread over several days as the COVID-19 pandemic persists, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday.
“We have seen the many impacts of the election, we have seen that in the US and India, it further aggravates the situation,” Galvez said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
Galvez said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) are now in talks with the Commission on Election (Comelec) to explore ways to minimize transmission during the elections.
“We are looking at the possibility that the election will be a multi-day election, not a single-day election so we can prevent the possible conglomeration of thousands of people in the precincts,” said Galvez, who’s also the chief implementer of the NTF.
Under the Constitution, the election must be held on the second Monday of May which means the proposal requires amendment of the law.
“I think we have plenty of time,” Galvez said when asked if he thinks the law can still be amended with the elections already nearing.
“We will collectively plan this with [the] Comelec and the Senate and Congress.”
(INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA)
The Comelec has said it is “wary” about allocating a number of days for the 2022 elections amid the pandemic and instead, is leaning towards stretching voting hours to up to 12 hours.