Comelec opens command center, hotline for brgy, SK polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday launched a command center and hotline for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to be held on Monday, May 14.

Located at the Comelec main office at Palacio de Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, the command center will serve as the poll body's incident monitoring center and call center to receive complaints, reports, and questions through the 8888 hotline.

Lawyer Teofisto E. Elnas Jr. of the Comelec Election and Barangay Affairs Department (EBAD) said the hotline is ready to answer any questions from voters related to the conduct of the elections such as precinct numbers  and voting centers.

"Before Monday, kailangan alam na ng botante kung ano ang precinct number niya, at tsaka alam niya kung ano ang voting center niya. In case hindi niya alam, we'll just coordinate with the office of the election officer or dito sa hotline natin," Elnas said.

Voting will start at 7.a.m.  and end at 3 p.m. but voters already lined up by 3 p.m. may still cast their votes.

Deployments nearly finished

While unwilling to give an exact percentage regarding their readiness,  Comelec Commissioner Al Parreño said they have deployed some 500,000 teachers who volunteered to sign up as Board of Election Tellers (BET).

Funds for the honoraria of these teachers, to be dispensed through cash cards or cash advance, have already been downloaded to the appropriate financial institutions, he said.

"Mahirap i-quantify. Siguro 3 percent sa deployment, 100 percent sa teachers. Mag-iiba 'yan ah, kasi on the same election day, biglang may hindi darating," Parreño said.

Hot spots

The Departments of the Interior and Local Government, of Education, and of Health, as well as the National Youth Commission, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), will be represented at the command center for easier coordination.

In particular, the AFP and PNP are present to better facilitate the monitoring of election hot spots.

"Dito po natin pinag-uusapan, depende sa incidents na nangyari, kung ia-upgrade natin o ibababa ang classification ng isang lugar," Parreño  said.

"Based po dito, dun po tayo magkaka-augmentation of troops, dun rin po natin isipin kung gagamitin po natin succession na, kung PNP ang magbabantay sa mga barangay."

About 7,915 out of 42,000 barangays in the country were marked as election hot spots by the PNP. 

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had the most hot spots with 1,415, followed by Bicol with 1,304 and Soccsksargen with 661. —KBK, GMA News