Comelec continues working to prepare for BBL voting

BAGUIO CITY—The slaughter of 44 police commandos in a US-driven operation to get international terrorist Marwan has not spoiled preparations for a Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) plebiscite, which will be required should Congress pass the measure, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said here on Friday.

Comelec Commissioner Al Parreño said the poll body required six months before the plebiscite date to be set by Congress and had focused its efforts on drawing more people to register, particularly residents of provinces that would make up the proposed Bangsamoro region.

Parreño said he would introduce the poll body’s online voters’ registration program called I-Rehistro to Marawi City and other Mindanao provinces to promote awareness on the electoral system among the youth.

Parreño is one of four remaining Comelec commissioners since the retirement of Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. and Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph on Feb. 2.

No vacuum

The absence of three commissioners has not set back work at the agency, Parreño said.

He said the four commissioners met and agreed on Thursday to move the Sangguniang Kabataan elections once more from Feb. 21 to April 25, pending the passage of a law that would synchronize the youth elections once more with those of villages in 2016.

The commissioners also reorganized the Comelec divisions that hear election cases, he said, hoping to resolve many poll-related issues before the 2016 national elections.

“We need to finish all these cases so we are rushing. Each division has to tackle up to 500 cases. We start work at 8 a.m. and will proceed even after office hours,” he said.

But the Bangsamoro transition process, including the plebiscite, remains one of the Comelec’s priorities, he said.

Congress has stalled deliberations on the BBL measure pending an inquiry into the Special Action Force mission to arrest two terrorists—Marwan and Basit Usman—that led to the death of 44 policemen after a clash with Moro rebels.

Youth participation

“From our perspective, our preparations for the BBL plebiscite will proceed. As early as December 2013, we formed a committee composed of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the transition group (tasked to oversee the conversion of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao into a Bangsamoro region). We meet every month to discuss matters relative to the Bangsamoro,” Parreño said.

“Lately, our discussions were principally about [voters’] registration. We want to enhance registration … to encourage students to participate in the plebiscite,” he said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon