One hundred seventy-five cops finished their training to replace members of the electoral board in case the teachers won’t report during the election day, particularly in far-flung areas in the region.
But Atty. Krisna Caballero, the spokesperson of Commision on Election XI, said the trained PNP officers are just a contingency.
She assured that the electoral boards are complete for Davao City and other parts of the region. They also have ready substitutes who will serve as replacement. The protocol is to get the substitute from the national government, local government units, private agencies, and the PNP as the last resort.
“We intend to conduct training for them (PNP) for those far-flung areas that have security concerns,” she said. “But still, we have to follow order of preference on who are qualified to serve as an electoral board member.”
She said the already deployed voting counting machines (VCMs) in the polling places. Today will be the final testing and sealing of the VCMs. The Comelec also have contingency VCMs for defective machines.
The official ballots are already in the City Treasurer’s Office for safekeeping. For Davao city, there are a total of 1,139 VCMs, along with the voters registration verification machines.
Col. Eden Ugale, the deputy regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office XI, said they have trained PNP officers, in coordination with the Comelec, in case of an emergency or a security concern.
