ILOILO City – Media practitioners may avail themselves of the local absentee voting scheme this midterm elections, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The poll body, in Resolution No. 10443, has allowed the following for local absentee voting:
* print journalists
* television journalists
* photojournalists
* online journalists
* radio journalists
* documentary makers
* television / radio production people
According to Iloilo provincial election supervisor Atty. Roberto Salazar, others qualified for local absentee voting are members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and government officials and employees “assigned temporarily to perform election duties in places where they are not registered voters…”
Salazar, however, clarified that these identified persons must first be registered voters.
Comelec (city election office in case of highly urbanized or independent cities outside the National Capital Region, and provincial election offices) will be receiving applications for absentee voting until March 11, 2019.
For government officials and employees, members of the PNP and AFP, the local absentee voting application may be filed with their respective heads of offices / supervisors / commanders or officers next in rank.
For media practitioners, an endorsement letter (from station managers if working in radio or television, or from editors if working in print) is an added requirement.
According to Salazar the local absentee voting period is from April 29 to May 1, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., ahead of the May 13 midterm polls.
The vote is also limited only to the position of senator and party-list organization, he added.
For government officials and personnel, members of the military and the police, the head of offices / supervisors / commanders or officers next in rank would designate the place where voting could take place.
For media practitioners, the voting must be done at the election office where they applied for local absentee voting./PN
