Comelec no longer buying P26.5-M ‘bib vests’

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesdsay announced that it will no longer procure 300,000 bib vests that teachers, as Board of Elections Inspectors (BEI), were supposed to wear in the May 9 polls.

The decision was announced following an en banc meeting on Tuesday.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the BEIs will instead, wear their teaching uniforms on Election Day and they will be provided with IDs by the poll body.

Not a single group had bought bidding documents since the Comelec announced last week that it will procure 354,053 pieces of bib vests.

The bidding contract was P26,553,975 or P75 a piece.

The Comelec, however, will push through with its plan to purchase shirts that its employees will use on election day.

The poll body will procure 6,158 gray collared shirts for its employees, with a bidding contract of P1,231,600, or P200 per shirt.

Bib vests

The bib vests were supposed to be made of white material with blue lining, which will bear the PiliPinas logo with "BEI" printed in big letters in front, and the poll body's name and "Board Election Inspector" at the back.

Bautista has said the vests was supposed to help voters identify the BEIs.

The Comelec plan to buy bib vests drew criticisms from several personalities, including Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, co-chair of the joint congressional oversight committee on automated polls.

Pimentel scored the poll body for "not having the initiative" to save money.

Election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections, meanwhile, said the procurement of bib vests was an "unnecessary expenditure."

The poll chief, however, told reporters Monday he would place the matter up on Tuesday's agenda. 

"Ako naman, ang sabi ko, hindi naman ako sarado, pero sabi ko nga, how will you identify (the BEIs) on election day, and how will you strengthen the professionalism (of election workers)?" Bautista said.  

Before Tuesday's meeting, most of the seven-member en banc issued memoranda calling for the reconsideration of the matter. 

Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Luie Tito Guia said in a joint memorandum that the initiative should be looked into anew after the public backlash. 

Comm. Rowena Guanzon, meanwhile, issued a separate memo on Monday, urging her colleagues to "reconsider" their vote to avoid "extravagant" expenses. 

The following day, Comm. Arthur Lim issued a memorandum declaring his reconsideration of the matter, saying Comm. Sheriff Abas joins him in the opinion. 

The Arthur Lim and Abas are currently in Hong Kong handling the preparations for overseas absentee voting that starts Saturday.  — ALG/RSJ, GMA News