Comelec opens new hotline; commish protests

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is dedicating a hotline that would receive voters’ concerns and queries on Election Day.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said the commission has ordered the establishment of a P2-million Voter Care Center for the May 9 polls.

“The idea is, on Election Day, there will be a hotline for voters to call if they have problems, with Comelec personnel sitting there and taking calls and referring them to the appropriate persons,” said Guanzon.

Guanzon said the P2-million budget will be for telecommunication system and the monitors. They want to have monitors large enough to be seen even from afar.

But not everybody is happy with the Voter Care Center.

Redundant

Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said it was a redundancy on the part of the poll body.

“I don’t see any reason to come up with something redundant. It is a waste of money and resources,” said Lim in a separate interview.

Lim explained that the National Technical Support Center (NTSC) was already tasked to accept all automation-related concerns on Election Day, while the Command Center will handle other poll-related concerns such as security and logistics, among other things.

“To me, those two are already enough. You have two centers with two hotlines. A Voter Care Center? Why the need?” he said.

Meanwhile, the Comelec said cigarette smoking will be prohibited in all voting precincts during the May 9 polls.

Comelec Chair Andres Bautista has granted the request by Civil Service Commission  Chair Alicia de la Rosa-Bala to make all voting precincts 100-percent smoke-free environments.