Comelec: 3,000 PNP personnel being trained as poll workers

Around 3,000 personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) nationwide are being trained to substitute for the teachers who will withdraw as electoral board members for the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Sunday.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, Comelec chairman George Garcia pointed out that teachers are not required to serve as poll workers for the 2023 BSKE scheduled on Monday, October 30, considering that it is near Undas or All Saints' Day on November 1.

“Therefore, talagang noon pa man, inaasahan natin na may mga teachers na hindi magsisilbi sa araw ng eleksyon. Hindi naman namin sila puwedeng i-obliga kung kaya’t naghanda rin kami ng mga PNP personnel na magsisilbi bilang kahalinlin o kapalit nu'ng mga electoral board members natin,” Garcia said.

(We’ve expected even before that there will be teachers who will not serve on election day. We cannot oblige them, so we have also prepared PNP personnel to serve as substitutes for our electoral board members.)

He said some teachers, particularly those in Abra, have withdrawn as poll workers because they are related to the candidates.

Last week, the Comelec reported that a candidate running for barangay councilor in Bucay, Abra was shot dead. There were also 122 candidates in Abra who backed out of the BSKE. —KG, GMA Integrated News