The Commission on Elections in the Negros Island Region (Comelec-NIR) continues with preparations for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) despite its possible postponement to 2026.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-NIR regional election director, said Aug. 12 that this is in anticipation of some groups’ plan to seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court against the postponement.
Castillano said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the bill postponing the BSKE to next year on Thursday.
“But if, for whatever reason, the President cannot sign it, it will lapse into a law,” he added.
Castillano said they do not want to be caught flat-footed because they have to re-cluster voting precincts to accommodate the exact number of voters for the electoral exercise.
For the BSKE, only 400 voters are allowed for each clustered precinct, compared to 1,000 voters during the May 12 national and local elections.
The newly-registered voters, upon approval by the Election Registration Board, will have to be assigned their voting precincts, he noted.
The Comelec-NIR registered over 130,000 applicants in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor during the Aug. 1-10 voters’ registration for the BSKE.
Records provided by Castillano to the Philippine News Agency showed that Negros Occidental had 78,315 registrants; Negros Oriental, 47,633; and Siquijor, 4,418, or a total of 130,366. ||
