Comelec won’t postpone polls in Pablo-hit areas

MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Friday that midterm elections in May will push through in areas severely ravaged by Typhoon Pablo late last year.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the commission is not inclined to postpone the elections in the Pablo-hit areas despite having schools earlier deemed as insufficient to be voting centers.

"We won't postpone the elections there unless the situation is severe, wherein not even improvised schools cannot be put up. We will not be the ones that will build schools. Maybe, we will just put up (establishments), where we can conduct the voting," said Brillantes.

He said that they will also meet with the Department of Education (DepEd) to get a better picture of the situation on the ground and on what possible actions to be undertaken.

"Those are their (DepEd) schools and they are supposed to rebuild it. If not, we will ask them for an improvised (establishment)," said Brillantes.

He, however, admitted that special arrangements are also being considered in handling the situation of voters in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

The poll chief said that this is because of the other possibility that the registered voters not staying in their residences anymore.

"This means they have to go back or do we bring the precincts near them. It is much more difficult if they are already located in different places. We will have to give this a special treatment," Brillantes said.

Asked how many voters can be affected, Brillantes said he does not have the numbers yet but that it is definitely below the two million people reportedly affected by the typhoon last December.

Brillantes, then, assured affected voters that they shall be properly informed on their voting center assignments when they distribute the Voters' Information Sheet (VIS) prior to Election Day. (HDT/Sunnex)