THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) reshuffled election officers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and other areas in the country a few days before the May 9 national and local elections.
The directive by Comelec chairperson Saidamen Pangarungan was confirmed by Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia, who said the order was issued to better manage the handling of elections in some areas.
Although Garcia did not mention the exact number of reshuffled election officers, he said many were moved or reassigned to other posts.
“Tungkol sa kung ilan po ‘yung bilang ng mga na-reshuffle o na-reassigned na election officer sa area ng BARMM at iba pang area po ng bansa ay babalikan ko po kayo sa bagay na ‘yan dahil medyo madami-dami rin ‘yung mga nalipat na mga election officers (regarding the exact number of reshuffled or reassigned election officers in BARMM and other areas, I will get back to you on that matter since there were many election officers who were moved to other areas),” Garcia explained.
Cotabato City Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi earlier said that some teachers staged a protest earlier where they protested the removal of their names from the list of electoral board members and replaced by other teachers.
“Nagsalita ‘yung mga guro dahil ang sabi nila ‘yang ipapalit ninyo sa amin na mga Islamic teachers walang training ‘yan. Hindi ‘yan naisyuhan ng DOST (Department of Science and Technology) certificate na nagpapatunay na qualified sila maging member (the teachers said that the Islamic teachers that replaced them had no training. They were not issued a DOST certificate that proves that they are qualified to become a member),” according to Sayadi.