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Comelec holds pre-ARMM elections press confab in Zamboanga

Zamboanga City (29 July 2005) -- In preparation for the August 8 ARMM Elections, a press conference was conducted by the Commission on Election (COMELEC) - Manila yesterday at the Garden Orchid Hotel.

The press conference was presided by Atty. Pio S. Joson, COMELEC Executive Director. Also present were Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan, Regional Election Director (NCR), Atty. Renato Magbutay, ARMM Regional Election Director, Atty. Bartolome Sinocruz and Dir. James Jimenez of the Education and Information Department.

The discussion was focused on the Voters' Education campaign targeting participants from the barangay level, the budget for the BEIs where they would receive P2,000.00 for their service. Atty. Rafanan said that the payment will be made directly to BEIs instead through the regional government. This is to avoid past experiences where payments were long delayed.

Dir. Joson also tackled the issue on the Multi-Registrants. He said that this is a perennial problem of the Commission but they have already identified some 10,000 multi-registrants in ARMM and are already in their watch list. He made sure that these voters could only vote once during the election. He COMELEC officials from other regions will be assigned to handle the election to relieve political pressure from local provincial election officials and to make sure that the electoral exercise is in order.

According to Dir. Joson, there will be no counting at the precinct level. Everything will be centralized to avoid problems in canvassing. He also said that the counting would be manual and not automated.

COMELEC Chair Benjamin Abalos, through a letter, invited the Chairmen of the Central Election Commission of Taipei and the Executive Board of Association of Asian Election Authorities to observe the conduct of the ARMM elections. Dir. Jimenez also mentioned that observers from US, UK, Canada and New Zealand were also invited. (PIA)

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