Poll preparations
IT’S certainly heartening to know that there are no glitches in the ongoing preparations for the holding of next year’s national and local elections.
The electorate goes to the polls anew on May 12, 2025 to elect 12 senators, more than 300 solons and thousands of local government officials.
This month, the first 200 of the 110,000 automatic-counting machines (ACMs) to be used in the polls are expected to arrive in the Philippines.
The joint venture of MIRU Systems Co. Ltd, Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. (MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI) is expected to complete the delivery by December.
The filing of certificates of candidacy for the coming elections is from October 1 to 8, 2024.
Instead of buying the ACMs, the poll body decided to just rent the units, according to Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco.
“On time po tayo. Wala po tayong delay,” said Laudiangco.
The results of next year’s political exercise are vital “kasi ang gusto ng mga politiko ay mga kakampi nila ang mga nakaupo pagdating ng 2028 presidential elections.”
“That’s why we expect the 2025 elections to be hotly contested,” a local politician said, adding “magkakaalaman na kung sino ang liyamado sa 2028.”
The poll body, chaired by lawyer George Erwin Garcia, is doing everything to ensure the holding of peaceful, clean, honest and credible off-season elections in 2025.
