ILOILO City – The Philippine Army (PA) and Philippine National Police (PNP) are finalizing security preparations to ensure the safe and smooth delivery of election paraphernalia for the May 13 midterm elections.
“We want to make sure that materials for the election will be safely delivered to regional hubs, to provincial hubs, up to the voting centers,” said Major General Rolando Felix, director for Integrated Police Operations Visayas.
During a recent Visayas Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council Meeting at a hotel here, some of the concerns Felix foresaw were the unanticipated malfunction of delivery vehicles and weather disturbances.
“We will plan on how to address possible concerns such as when delivery vehicles encounter problems on the road, or when the shipment of election supplies for some islands are obstructed by bad weather conditions,” he said.
Furthermore, security forces said counterinsurgency operations will continue despite the election season.
“We have to make sure that whatever the New People’s Army (NPA) is doing will not affect the outcome of the elections,” said Felix.
Police Brigadier General John Bulalacao, Police Regional Office 6 director, also warned that political candidates found using NPA services to harass political opponents will face sanctions.
“We will be very strict about this. We will make sure that the evidence against them will be strong so that we can file cases against them in court,” he said.
The election period, which started on Jan. 13, would end on June 12, 2019.
The campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups kicked off on Feb. 12 and would last until May 11.
Meanwhile, the campaign period for local bets – for governors down to municipal councilors and for district representatives – is from March 29 to May 11.
Campaigning is prohibited on Maundy Thursday (April 18) and Good Friday (April 19).
Overseas absentee voters can cast their votes from April 13 to May 13, 2019, while local absentee voters may vote from April 29 to May 1, 2019.
Here are the other major dates related to the midterm elections:
* April 8 to 12, 2019 – Testing and sealing of vote-counting machines (VCM) for overseas absentee voting in selected posts/countries
* April 12, 2019 – Last day to prepare list of qualified local absentee voters
* April 13, 2019 – Last day to furnish every registered voter with a Voter’s Information Sheet
* April 22, 2019 – Last day for concerned offices to post the Project of Precincts and furnish copies of it to national and local candidates
* April 29, 2019 – Last day to prepare a list of Accessible Polling Places for senior citizens and persons with disabilities
* May 6 to 10, 2019 – Testing and sealing of VCMs in polling places in the country
* May 13 to 16, 2019 – Count and canvass precinct results and proclaim winning city/municipal elective officials
* May 17 to 19, 2019 – Canvass results and proclaim winners for senatorial, congressional, party-list, regional, and provincial elections (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
