Concern raised over village poll youth uncertainty

Even netizens are posting their concerns on social media over whether the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will push through in October.

Netizens have been tagging the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Twitter account, @COMELEC, in their queries on the barangay and SK elections set for Oct. 23, the poll body’s spokesperson James Jimenez said.

“Requests for updates, related queries, on the status of the #2017BSKE are now a daily occurrence on Comelec’s social media channels and hotlines,” he said on his Twitter account @jabjimenez.

The netizens’ queries, Jimenez said, reflected growing public concern over whether the elections would be postponed or not.

“Clearly, the Comelec is not just asking for itself anymore,” he added.

The Comelec is now faced with a dilemma over whether to delay or slow down the printing of ballots pending approval of congressional bills deferring the elections. Lawmakers can only tackle the measures after the 17th Congress opens its second regular session on July 24.

The poll body initially planned to begin the printing of ballots on July 20.

Comelec chair Andres Bautista appealed to the lawmakers as early as March to decide on the postponement by July, otherwise preparations and funds would go to waste.

Senators, however, said they could only decide on the matter in August.

The poll body must print 78 million ballots through the National Printing Office: 57 million for the barangay elections, and 21 million for the SK elections.

“The good thing though is, since it’s a manual election, the ballots are not precinct specific. But on the other hand, we have to print much more ballots,” Bautista said.