General Instructions for the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs)

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ARTICLE II

WATCHERS

SEC. 15.  Official watchers of candidates, political parties and other groups. – Each candidate and registered political party or coalition of political parties duly registered with the Commission and fielding candidates in the election, as well as duly accredited citizen’s arms may appoint two watchers, to serve alternately, in every polling place.  However, candidates for Senator, candidates for Member, Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Sangguniang Panlungsod, or Sangguniang Bayan, belonging to the same ticket or slate, shall collectively be entitled to one watcher.

Duly accredited citizens arms of the Commission shall be entitled to appoint a watcher in every polling place.  Other civil, professional, business, service, youth, and any other similar organizations, with prior authority of the Commission, shall be entitled collectively to appoint one watcher in every polling place.

If, because of limited space, all watchers cannot be accommodated in the polling place, preference shall be given to the watchers of the dominant majority and dominant minority parties as determined by the Commission and the watcher of the citizen’s arm, with the latter being given preferential position closest to the BEI.  In case there are two or more citizen’s arm, preference shall be given to the one authorized by the Commission to conduct an unofficial count.

SEC. 16.  Qualification of watchers. – No person shall be appointed watcher unless he:

a)     Is a registered voter of the city or municipality comprising the precinct where he is assigned;

b)    Is of good reputation;

c)    Has not been convicted by final judgment of any election offense or of any other crime;

d)    Knows how to read and write Pilipino, English or of the prevailing local dialect; and

e)    Is not related within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to the chairman or to any other member of the BEI in the polling place where he seeks appointment as watcher.

SEC. 17.  Rights and duties of watchers. – Upon entering the polling place, the watchers shall deliver to the chairman their appointments as watchers, and their names shall forthwith be recorded in the Minutes with a notation under their signatures that they are not disqualified to serve as such under the immediately preceding Section.  The appointments of the watchers shall bear the signature of the candidate or duly authorized representative of the party, organization or coalition that appointed them.  For this purpose, at least fifteen (15) days before election day, independent candidates, registered parties, organizations, or coalitions authorized by the Commission to appoint watchers shall provide the Election Officers concerned with the names and signatures of their representatives authorized to appoint watchers in the city or municipality.

The watchers shall have the right to:

a)    Witness and inform themselves of the proceedings of the BEI;

b)    Take note of what they may see or hear;

c)    Take photographs of the proceedings and incidents, if any, during the voting, counting of votes, as well as of the generated election returns and of the ballot boxes;

d)    File a protest against any irregularity or violation of law which they believe may have been committed by the BEI or by any of its members or by any person;

e)    Obtain from the BEI a certificate as to the filing of such protest and the resolution thereof; and

Watchers shall not speak to any member of the BEI, or to any voter or among themselves, in such a manner as would disturb the proceedings of the BEI.

The watchers representing the dominant majority and dominant minority parties fielding candidates and the watcher of the citizen’s arm shall, if available, affix their signatures and thumbmarks in the election returns.

ARTICLE III

ELECTION FORMS AND SUPPLIES

SEC. 18.  Election forms, documents and supplies. – Except when authorized to do so earlier by the Commission, the BEI shall get the forms, documents and supplies early in the morning of election day.  The City/Municipal Treasurer shall distribute the following forms, documents and supplies per precinct/clustered precincts.

A.   FROM THE CITY/MUNICIPAL TREASURER

CEF No.	DESCRIPTION	RATE OF DISTRIBUTION
ELECTION FORMS
A3	Poster Indicating the Clustered Precincts’ Numbers	1	Piece
A6	Official Ballots	1	pc. per voter
A11	Minutes of Voting and Counting of Votes	1	Set of 2 copies
A12	Paper Seal	75	pieces
A14	Certificate of Receipt of Official Ballots, Other Forms and Supplies by BEI	3	piece
A27	Official Receipt of Election Returns	60	pieces
ENVELOPES FOR VOTING AND COUNTING
A15	For rejected ballots, half torn unused official ballots and other half torn unused official ballots	3	pieces
A16	For scanned/counted official ballots (expandable)	2	pieces per precinct
A17	For Election Returns	30	pieces
OTHER ENVELOPES
A18	For Minutes of Voting and Counting of Votes	1	set of 2 pieces
A18-A	For Back-up Memory Card, Initialization Report, Audit Log, and Precinct Statistical Report	5	pieces
A19	For Key of Ballot Box	3	pieces
OTHER FORMS
A30/A31	Temporary Appointment of Chairman/Poll Clerk/Third Member/Support Staff	10	pieces
A35	Certificate of Challenge or Protest and Decision of the BEI	10	pieces
A39	Oath of Voter Challenge for Illegal Acts	10	pieces
A40	Oath of Identification of Challenged Voter	10	pieces
SUPPLIES
	Seal for back-up memory card envelope	1	piece
	Bond Paper (long)	30	pieces
	Ballot Secrecy Folder	20	pieces
	Thumbprint Taker	2	pcs. per precinct in a cluster
	Serially Number Fixed Length Seal for back-up memory card	1	piece
	Indelible Stain Ink	2	bottles per precinct in a cluster
	Instruction to Voters	1	pc. per precinct in a cluster
	Ballot Box	1	piece
	Corrugated Box for Official Ballots	1	piece
	PCOS box plastic (garbage bag)	1	piece
	Marking pens	1 or 2	Box/es
	Ballpen	6	pieces

B.   FROM THE ELECTION OFFICER

a.    Book of Voters;

b.    One (1) copy of the Precinct Computerized Voters List (PCVL) with supplemental PCVL, if any, for posting outside the precinct;

c.    Two (2) copies of Election Day Computerized Voters List (EDCVL) (List of Voters with Voting Record) with supplemental EDCVL, if any,; and

d.    Copies of Appointment and Oath of Office of the BEI and Support Staff (A30/A31).

The Book of Voters should be duly sealed.  The PCVL and EDCVL should all be duly certified by the Election Registration Board.

The poll clerk, third member and the support staff, if any, shall have custody of the Book of Voters and one (1) copy of the EDCVL.

The BEI shall carefully check the different election forms, documents and supplies and the quantity actually received.  Thereafter, place the official ballots in a corrugated box provided by the Commission.  The BEI shall sign a Certificate of Receipt (A14) in three copies, the original of which shall be delivered to the City/Municipal Treasurer, who shall transmit the same to the ERSD, Comelec, Manila, immediately after Election Day.

SEC. 19.  Forms to be reproduced when needed. – The following forms may be reproduced when needed:

a)    Temporary Appointment of Chairman/Poll Clerk/Member (Annex “A”);

b)    Certificate of Challenge or Protest and Decision of the BEI (Annex “B”);

c)    Oath of Voter Challenged for Illegal Acts (ANNEX “C”); and

d)    Oath To Identify A Challenged Voter (ANNEX “D”).

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VOTER REGISTRATION in the ARMM for the August 8 ARMM Elections - Part 6

SEC. 22. Approval or disapproval of applications. - The ERB of the city/municipality shall hear the applications and, by majority vote, approve or disapprove the same in accordance with the schedule provided in Section 2 hereof.  Should one day be insufficient for the proceeding of all accepted applications, the ERB shall meet daily until all applications shall have been processed, but not beyond three (3) days, and subject to the following guidelines:

Number of Applications	Number of day(s) ERB Hearing
Less 1,000	One (1)
1,000 up to 2,000	Two (2)
Above 2,000	Three (3)

If the ERB disapproves the application, the applicant shall be furnished with a certificate of disapproval stating the ground(s) therefor.

After meeting, the ERB shall prepare in Six (6) copies the Minutes of the Proceedings which include, among others, the following:

1. Number of all applicants submitted to the Board for consideration;
2. List of applicants whose application for registration/transfer (within and from outside)/deactivation/correction of entries/ change of name/reactivation/inclusion/reinstatement of record, was approved or disapproved by the Board indicating the application number opposite their names.

The EO concerned shall, within five (5) days from the last day of hearing of the ERB, distribute copies of the Minutes to the following:

1. Two (2) copies to the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor (OPES), which shall retain one copy and send the other copy to the Registration Division, EBAD;
2. One (1) copy each to the representatives of the Dominant Majority Party and the Dominant Minority Party;
3. One (1) copy shall be posted in the Bulletin Board of his Office; and
4. Retain copy for his file

Failure to comply with the requirements of the two (2) preceding paragraphs shall be ground for disciplinary action and withholding of benefits granted by the Commission.

SEC. 23. Publication of Action on Application. – Immediately within five (5) days from approval or disapproval of applications, the ERB shall post notices in the bulletin boards of the municipal/city hall and in the office of the EO, stating the names and addresses of the applicants, the dates of the applications and the actions taken thereon.  The EO shall serve a copy of the notice either personally or by registered mail or special delivery, to the local heads or representatives of registered political parties in the city/ municipality.

SEC. 24. Petition for Inclusion of Voters in the List. – Any person whose application for registration has been disapproved by the ERB or whose name has been stricken out from the list may file with the court a petition to include his name in the permanent list of voters in his precinct at any time but not later than April 29, 2011. It shall be supported by a certificate of disapproval of his application and proof of service of notice of his petition upon the ERB. The petition shall be decided within fifteen (15) days after its filing.

If the decision is for the inclusion of the voters’ name in the permanent list of voters, the ERB shall place the application for registration previously disapproved in the corresponding book of voters and indicate in the application for registration the date of the order of inclusion and the court which issued the same.

SEC. 25. Petition for Exclusion of Voters from the List. – Any registered voter, representative of a political party or the EO, may file with the court a sworn petition for the exclusion of a voter from the permanent list of voters giving the name, address and the precinct of the challenged voter at any time but not later than May 4, 2011.  The petition shall be accompanied by proof of notice to the ERB and to the challenged voter and shall be decided within ten (10) days from its filing.

If the decision is for the exclusion of the voter’s name from the list, the ERB shall upon receipt of the final decision and remove the voter’s registration record from the corresponding book of voters, enter the order of exclusion therein and place the record in the inactive file.

SEC. 26. Disposition of applications for registration, transfer of registration records, reactivation, inclusion/reinstatement or record, change of name, correction of entry/entries and the compact discs (VRS). -

a) On a daily basis, the EO shall:

1.   Gather all accomplished application forms and compact discs (CDs) from the VRM Operator.

2.   Compile all accomplished forms per barangay and by precinct, arrange the application forms alphabetically by surname;

3.   Generate a list of those who applied for registration or transfer of registration for the day, and other applications using the VRS Program. Said list shall be posted in the bulletin board of the city/municipality and in the Office of the Election Officer.

4.   Prepare a report regarding the occurrence of any untoward incident during the day and action taken thereon. For this purpose, each EO shall indicate in his journal any important occurrence and incident during the registration days; and

5.   Store the application forms, CDs, other forms and supplies in a safe and secure place. CDs that are not yet full or not have been finalized shall be used in the succeeding registration day.

b) At the end of the registration period, the EO shall:

1.   Generate Statistical Report on the number of applicants per application type.

2.   Submit to the ERB all applications received including the list of applicants and Statistical Report for action.

3.   Segregate all approved applications as follows:

a.   The first copy shall remain with the Election Officer;

b.   The second copy together with the Minutes of the Proceedings to the OPES; and

c.   The third copy to the National Central File Division.

All disapproved applications shall remain in the custody of the Election Officer.

4.   Finalize CD and back-up file document.mdb or comelec.(myi, myd and frm). The back-up of the document.mdb or comelec.(myi, myd and frm) shall contain only records approved by the ERB.

5.   Execute the CONSOLIDATION function.

6.   Extract records of all approved applications filed during the registration period.

7.   Transmit electronically the extracted records to ITD within five (5) days after the ERB hearing.

SEC. 27. Role of the Regional and Assistant Regional Election Director and Provincial Election Supervisor. – The RED, ARED and PES shall ensure compliance of the EO’s timely submission of all the required reports and shall be held directly responsible for non-compliance within the period herein provided.

SEC. 28. Off-site Verification Teams. - The Election and Barangay Affairs Department and Information Technology Department shall deploy personnel in the Five (5) provinces of ARMM, from April 14 to 16, 2011, who shall be responsible for the checking and gathering of the following reports:

1. Consolidated Quarterly Progress Report;
2. Project of Precincts for the August 8, 2011 ARMM Elections;
3. List of applicants whose applications were approved or disapproved by the ERB, indicating the application number opposite their names;
4. Report on the number of deleted double/multiple registrants based on AFIS results; and
5. SNPDAT or soft copy of the voters’ database.

SEC. 29. Applicability of other resolutions of the Commission. – The provisions of Res. No. 2904 (Rules and Regulations Governing the General Registration of Voters and the System of Continuing Registration of Voters) and other Resolutions of the Commission insofar as applicable and when not inconsistent herewith, shall apply in the registration of voters.

SEC. 30. Effectivity. – This Resolution shall take effect seven (7) days after its publication. The Education and Information Department (EID) is hereby directed to cause the widest dissemination of this Resolution and its publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines and two (2) local newspapers of circulation within the ARMM area.

Let the Office of the Executive Director implement this Resolution.

SO ORDERED.

(Sgd.) SIXTO S. BRILLANTES, JR. Chairman
(Sgd.) RENE V. SARMIENTO Commissioner	(Sgd.) LUCENITO N. TAGLE Commissioner
(Sgd.) ARMANDO C. VELASCO Commissioner	(Sgd.) ELIAS R. YUSOPH Commissioner