FILE PHOTO Comelec building in Manila
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said it is planning to shorten the campaign period for those who will run in the 2022 barangay and Sanggunihang Kabataan elections (BSKE) set on December 5.
At the same time, the Comelec is also thinking of adjusting the date of the filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) for BSKE due to new features on the voting ballots, which will include an ascending serial number on each ballot.
“These are new features so we would like to adjust the filing of the candidacy so that we could likewise adjust the printing of the ballots,” said Comelec chair George Garcia in an interview with ANC.
Garcia did not, however, provide any tentative dates for the filing of COCs.
At present, the campaign period for the BSKE elections is at 60 days, but Comelec is thinking of reverting to just 40 to 45 days.
“We do not want our people to be harassed by candidates going here and there. Before po kasi our campaign period was only 40 to 45 days. In this case 60, so we’d like to reduce that,” said Garcia.
The poll body is set to discuss all of these during its en banc session on Wednesday, Sept. 21.