The Commission on Election (Comelec) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) on Monday said the deployment of automated counting machines (ACMs) and election paraphernalia to various precincts in the region will start on May 8.

“We have been ordered to finish with the final testing and sealing (FTS) by May 7 so that we can already start to bring the election materials to the polling centers,” lawyer Julius Torres, regional director of Comelec-CAR, said in a media interview.

FTS of the ACMs in all provincial election offices will be done on May 6 and 7, he said.

“The earlier we can finish with the FTS, the better so that if there are machines that need to be replaced, it will be identified earlier and replaced or immediately fixed,” Torres said.

He said there are areas in the region that require a day of trekking to deliver the ACMs and election paraphernalia to the polling centers.

Torres also assured the readiness of the teachers to perform election duties on May 12.

“We hope that there will be no teacher who will back out of the electoral board function before the election day, but in case somebody does, we have 1,972 police officers trained to do the job of the electoral board,” he said.

Peace and order in Abra

More than 200 police personnel were deployed to Abra on Friday, with an additional 20 more on Monday to maintain peace and order in the province, according to Torres.

“Abra is the only province where we are facing challenges, but our law enforcers are doing their best to properly manage the situation on the ground. Personnel and logistics are being sent to Abra to ensure their readiness,” he said.

He added that while the police are saying that only six of the 28 shooting incidents in the province are related to the elections, they are still looking into the peace and order situation there to make sure that it does not affect the conduct of the elections.

“We want to make sure that the people will go out on election day to cast their votes without fear [of] intimidation or any issues that will affect the result of the election,” Torres said.

In Kalinga, Torres said they were assured by the local police that talks are ongoing between the warring tribes that were recently involved in a shooting incident.

“We wanted to make sure that the voters will not have the fear to go out of their houses to vote because of the ongoing tribal war,” he added.

Aside from policemen, personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines will also be deployed to the province to help maintain peace and order on May 12. (PNA)