Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Resolution No. 8739 - General Instructions for the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs)

Republic of the Philippines
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
Manila

RESOLUTION No. 8739

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE BOARD OF ELECTION INSPECTORS (BEI) ON THE VOTING, COUNTING, AND TRANSMISSION OF RESULTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE 10 MAY 2010 NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS



     WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 9369 authorized the Commission on Elections to use an automated election system as it may deem appropriate and practical for the process of voting, counting and transmission of results;

   WHEREAS, in pursuit of this mandate, the Commission on Elections resolved, in connection with the May 10, 2010, National and Local elections, to adopt a paper-based automated election system by using Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) Machines, which shall be deployed in all polling places nationwide;

    NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to the powers vested in it by the Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code, Republic Act No. 9369, and other election laws, the Commission HEREBY RESOLVES to promulgate, the following General Instructions for the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) on the Voting, Counting, and Transmission of Results:


ARTICLE I
BOARD OF ELECTION INSPECTORS

    SEC. 1.  Board of Election Inspectors (BEI); constitution and appointment. --  The Commission on Elections, through its Election Officer, shall constitute not later than January 8, 2010, the BEI for each precinct/clustered precinct from the list of all public school teachers submitted by the Department of Education’s (DepEd) highest official within the city/municipality/school district.

          The BEI shall be composed of a Chairman and two (2) members, one of whom shall be designated as poll clerk, and all of whom shall be public school teachers, giving preference to those with permanent appointment and those who served in the immediately preceding National and Local Elections.

      In all cases, the Election Officer shall ensure that at least one (1) member of the BEI shall be an information technology-capable person as certified by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) after the training of the same.

       In case there are not enough public school teachers, teachers in private schools, employees in the civil service, or citizens of known probity and competence who are registered voters of the city or municipality may be appointed as members of the BEI; provided, that the chairman shall be a public school teacher.

     SEC. 2.  Qualifications of members of the BEI. – No person shall be appointed as chairman or member of the BEI, whether regular, substitute or temporary, unless he:

a)     Is of good moral character and irreproachable reputation;

b)    Is a registered voter of the city or municipality;

c)    Has never been convicted of any election offense or of any other crime punishable by more than six (6) months of imprisonment;

d)    Has no pending case against him filed in COMELEC/court for any election offense; and

e)    Is able to speak, read and write English or the local dialect.


SEC. 3.  Disqualification.No person shall serve as chairman or member of the BEI if he or his spouse is related within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to any member of the same BEI or to any candidate to be voted for or to the latter’s spouse.  Violation of this provision shall constitute an election offense as provided in Section 261 (bb), sub-par (3) of the Omnibus Election Code.

SEC. 4.  Notice of disqualification. – Any chairman or member of the BEI who is disqualified for any reason shall immediately notify the Election Officer of such fact in writing, who shall in turn, appoint a substitute.

SEC. 5.  Temporary vacancies in the BEI. – If, at the time of the meeting of the BEI, any member is absent or a vacancy exists, the members present shall call upon a substitute from the list of public school teachers submitted by the DepEd to perform the duties of the absent member.  If none is available, the members present shall appoint any qualified non-partisan registered voter of the precinct to temporarily fill said vacancy until the absent member appears.  In case there are two members present, they shall act jointly.

SEC. 6.  Arrest of absent members. – The member or members of the BEI present may order the arrest of any member who, in his or their judgment, has absented himself with the intention of obstructing the performance of the duties of the BEI.

SEC. 7.  Appointment and oath of members of the BEI.The Election Officer shall accomplish the form for the Appointment of the Chairman and Members of the BEI (A30) in three (3) copies, and require the chairman and members of the BEI to affix their signatures and imprints of their right thumbs on the Oath of Office (A30/A31) before him before assumption of office.

Copies of the Appointment and Oath (A30/A31) shall be distributed, as follows:

a)     The first and second copies shall be retained by the Election Officer.  One copy shall be for his file and the other shall be attached to the payroll for payment of honorarium of the BEI; and

b)    The third copy, shall be issued to the chairman/members of the BEI.


SEC. 8.  Minutes of voting and counting of votes (Minutes).The BEI shall enter in the Minutes (A11), the act or data therein required as they occur or become available during voting, counting, and transmission of votes.  Copies thereof shall be sealed in separate envelopes, to be distributed as follows:

a) First copy, to the Election Officer, who shall transmit it to the Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD) in Manila; and

b) Second copy, to be deposited inside the compartment of the ballot box for valid ballots.

SEC. 9.  Support Staff.There shall be, in addition to the regular members of the BEI, depending on the number of precincts clustered, a maximum of three (3) support staff, who are registered voters in the precinct/clustered precinct where they are assigned.  They shall be appointed/designated by the Election Officer, subject to the qualifications and conditions provided under Sections 2, 3 and 7 hereof, in such manner as indicated below:

NO. PRECINCTS IN A CLUSTER
NO. OF SUPPORT STAFF
1 to 2
0
3
1
4
2
5, 6 and 7
3


They can neither participate in any deliberation of the BEI nor vote on any issue or question that may arise during the proceedings.

In case of absence of all or any of the support staff on the day of the election, the BEI, by majority vote, may designate any registered voter in the precinct/clustered precinct as substitute, subject to the provisions of Sections 2, 3 & 7 hereof.  Such fact shall be recorded in the Minutes.

SEC. 10.  Powers and functions of the BEI.The BEI shall have the following powers and functions:

a) Conduct the voting in the polling place and administer the electronic counting of votes;

b) Print the election returns and transmit electronically the election results, through the use of the PCOS machine, to the:

a.    City/Municipal Board of Canvassers;
b.    Dominant majority party, dominant minority party, accredited citizens’ arm and, KBP; and
c.    to the central server.

c)  Act as deputies of the Commission in the conduct of the elections;

d)  Maintain order within the polling place and its premises; keep access thereto open and unobstructed; enforce obedience to its lawful orders and prohibit the use of cellular phones and camera by the voters.  If any person refuses to obey the lawful orders of the BEI or conducts himself in a disorderly manner in its presence or within its hearing and thereby interrupts or disturbs its proceedings, the BEI may issue an order in writing directing any peace officer to take said person into custody until the adjournment of the meeting, but such order shall not be executed as to prevent said person from voting.  A copy of such written order (Annex “A”) shall be attached to the Minutes; and

e) Perform such other functions prescribed by law or by the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission.

SEC. 11.  Proceedings of the BEI.The meeting of the BEI shall be public and shall be held in the polling place designated by the Commission.

The BEI shall act through its chairman and shall decide by majority vote, without delay, all questions, which may arise in the performance of its duties.

SEC. 12.  Voting Privilege of the Members of BEI and Support Staff.Members of the BEI, their substitutes and support staff, if any, who are registered voters in a precinct/clustered precincts other than where they are assigned, may avail of the Local Absentee Voting, or on the day of the elections, vote in the precincts where they are registered, provided that they do so when the voting in their respective places of assignments is light, and their absence shall not be for more than twenty (20) minutes.  For this purpose, they shall schedule their voting so that only one member of the BEI shall leave at any one time.

SEC. 13.  Prohibition against political activity.No member of the BEI or its support staff shall engage in any partisan political activity or take part in the election except to discharge his duties as such and to vote.

SEC. 14.  Honoraria of the BEI.The chairman and members of the BEI shall each receive an honorarium of one thousand pesos (P1,000.00) per day, but not to exceed three thousand pesos (P3,000.00).  In addition, they shall be entitled to service credits for each day of service (Day before the elections, election day, and day after Elections).  Support Staff shall receive five hundred pesos (P500.00) per day, but not to exceed one thousand five hundred pesos (P1,500.00).

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Monday, May 17, 2010

The Printing of EDCVL for Use in the May 10, 2010 National & Local Elections


IN THE MATTER OF THE PRINTING OF THE ELECTION DAY 
COMPUTERIZED VOTERS LIST (EDCVL) FOR USE IN THE 
MAY 10, 2010 NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS

RESOLUTION No. 8838

Promulgation: 30 April 2010





WHEREAS, COMELEC Resolution No. 8786 requires the distribution of two (2) copies of the Election Day Computerized Voters List (EDCVL) to the members of the boards of election inspectors (BEI) for use in the May 10, 2010 automated national and local elections;

WHEREAS, the purpose of the second copy of the EDCVL is to ensure that in case a court or electoral tribunal will take possession of the EDCVL due to a pending electoral protest, the Election Officer will have an extra copy to be used in recording the voting history of the voters in his jurisdiction;

WHEREAS, the Information Technology Department (ITD), which is tasked to generate and print the EDCVL, has recommended that due to insufficient supply of toner being used for the printing, only one copy of the EDCVL be printed for the remaining 36.7% or 18,615,207 records still to be printed, and that for the cities and municipalities where two copies of the EDCVL have already been printed, the Election Officers shall be directed to provide only one copy of the EDCVL to the BEIs for use on election day;

WHEREAS, requiring the printing of two copies of EDCVL for the remaining 36.7% of the records may result in the ITD not being able to complete the printing of all EDCVLs in time for distribution to the BEIs for use on election day;

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the powers vested in it by the Constitution, Omnibus Election Code, Republic Act No. 9369 and other election laws, the Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES:

  1. To approve the recommendation of the Information Technology Department that only one copy of the EDCVL be printed for the remaining 36.7% or 18,615,207 records still to be printed;

  2. For cities and municipalities where two copies of the EDCVL have already been printed, to maintain the instructions under Resolution No. 8786 that two (2) copies of the Election Day Computerized Voters List (EDCVL) shall be distributed to the members of the boards of election inspectors (BEI) for use on election day; and

  3. To ensure that the Election Officer will have an extra copy of the EDCVL to be used in recording the voting history of the voters in his jurisdiction even if a court or electoral tribunal will take possession of the EDCVL due to a pending electoral protest, to require the Election Officer to photocopy the EDCVL before issuing the same to the court or electoral tribunal.
Let the PMO Project Director implement this Resolution.
(Sgd.) JOSE A.R. MELO
Chairman
(Sgd.) RENE V. SARMIENTO
Commissioner
(Sgd.) NICODEMO T. FERRER
Commissioner
(Sgd.) LUCENITO N. TAGLE
Commissioner
(Sgd.) ARMANDO C. VELASCO
Commissioner
(Sgd.) ELIAS R. YUSOPH
Commissioner
(Sgd.) GREGORIO Y. LARRAZABAL
Commissioner

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Res. No. 9212 - Guidelines in Filing Certificates of Candidacy & Nomination for ARMM Elections


SEC. 5.  Certificates of Nomination of Official Candidates by the Political Party. – The certificate of nomination of registered political parties or coalitions of political parties of their official candidates shall be filed, in five (5) legible copies, not later than the last day for filing of certificates of candidacy, duly signed and attested under oath by the party president, chairman, secretary-general or any other duly authorized officer of the party, and shall bear the acceptance of the nominee.  If the certificate of nomination of a candidate is filed within the period for filing of the certificate of candidacy but after his certificate of candidacy has been filed, he shall attach a copy of the certificate of nomination shall be attached to the certificate of candidacy.

For this purpose, all registered political parties/fielding official candidates for the election shall, not later than May 09, 2011, submit to the Law Department the names and specimen signatures of the authorized signatories to official party nominations.

No certificate of nomination or any amendment thereto shall be filed after the last day for filing of certificate of candidacy, except in case of valid substitution under Section 14 hereof.

No political party shall be allowed to nominate candidates more than the number required to be voted for in an elective position; otherwise, all of the nominations shall be without effect and the candidate affected shall be considered as independent.

SEC. 6.  Independent Candidate. – An independent candidate is one:

1)       who has not been nominated by a registered political party or its duly authorized representative;
2)       whose nomination has not been submitted by a registered political party;
3)       who has not accepted a nomination from registered political party;
4)       who accepts nominations from more than one registered political party, except in cases of coalitions of said political parties;
5)       whose nomination was filed after the last day of filing of certificates of candidacy.

SEC. 7.  Effects of Filing Certificates of Candidacy. – a) Any person holding a public appointive office or position including active members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and other officers and employees in government-owned or controlled corporations, shall be considered ipso facto resigned from his office upon the filing of his certificate of candidacy.

b)  Any person holding an elective office or position shall not be considered resigned upon the filing of his certificate of candidacy for the same or any other elective office or positions.

SEC. 8.  Ministerial Duty of Receiving and Acknowledging Receipt of Certificates of Candidacy/Nomination; Recording. – The receiving officer as provided for in Section 3 hereof shall have the ministerial duty to receive and acknowledge receipt of the certificates of candidacy of a candidate and/or nomination by registered political parties or coalition of political parties on or before the deadline for filing of certificates of candidacy, provided said certificates are under oath, contain all the required data, and in the form prescribed by the Commission.  He shall stamp every copy of each certificate with the date and time of its receipt and affix his signature thereon.

Thereafter, the receiving officer shall enter in a record book, the following data, leaving no space between entries:  (a) date and time of receipt of the certificates; (b) assigned consecutive number thereof; (c) full name of the candidate; (d) the office for which the candidate is running; (e) the political party to which the candidate belongs and/or which nominated him, if any; (f) the number of copies actually received; and (g) the name of the receiving officer.

Without delay, after 12:00 o’clock midnight of the last day for filing certificate of candidacy, the receiving officer shall close the record book by placing a line immediately after the last entry and writing the word “closed”.  He shall then affix his signature below the word “closed” and indicate the date and exact time of closing.
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