00:00 The fuel subsidy is being distributed to the PUV operator and driver.
00:04 The election spending ban of COMELEC is now exempted.
00:08 And the situation in Negros Oriental, we will talk about it
00:12 with Attorney John Rex Laudianco, the spokesperson of the Commission on Elections.
00:18 Attorney, good afternoon and welcome to the new Philippines.
00:23 Good afternoon, Ma'am Nina, Ma'am Eunice and all the participants of the new Philippines.
00:31 Sir, COMELEC has approved the request to exempt the fuel subsidy grant from the election spending ban.
00:39 What pushed the Commission to allow this?
00:43 All of our social services were strongly encouraged by the Commission on Elections
00:51 to apply because this is the requirement of our Omnibus Election Code.
00:55 When it comes to 45 days before election, like now from September 15 to October 30,
01:02 the Omnibus Election is strictly prohibiting, particularly Section 261(b) and (w) of the Omnibus Election Code,
01:09 the disbursement of public funds without the permission of COMELEC.
01:14 But like the commitment of Chairman Garcia, the laws that COMELEC is enforcing will not be a barrier to the implementation of social services.
01:23 We will comply with the requirements of the law, like here, we will apply and hope that we will be given an exemption immediately.
01:30 Is there a limitation on the approval of COMELEC for this exemption?
01:36 There is no limitation except that we will be reported on the amount of the project.
01:44 Who are the recipients and what agencies will be distributed?
01:47 Like our fuel subsidy, this is the DOTR and LTFRB.
01:54 This is the same when our Department of Social Welfare and Development applied for their various projects,
02:01 including the ride subsidy for micro and small retailers.
02:05 COMELEC is immediately approving this because we don't want our citizens to stop or delay social services.
02:13 Speaking of that sir Rex, are there any monitoring of COMELEC to avoid the use of the fuel subsidy grant exemption in vote buying and how we are monitoring this?
02:26 You're right Ma'am Nina. First of all, we are looking at the agencies that will be distributed.
02:32 As you can see, all of the approved agencies are national government agencies.
02:38 There are also some local government units. They are identifying the recipients and who will be distributed and how much will be distributed for the duration of the project.
02:52 After this, they will give us a report.
02:56 Like what Chairman Garcia said last week, there are some who are applying and the barangay will give them.
03:03 But because this requires safeguards, COMELEC did not approve it first.
03:08 What is being approved now are the ones that are distributed by our national government agencies and other large local government units.
03:16 Sir Rex, what is the number of candidates for BSKE 2023 that are doing premature campaign activities?
03:28 What are the steps that you took for this?
03:32 After the filing of our COC, 1,200 plus are being sent by the Task Force Anti-Epal or the Task Force Against Illegal or Premature Campaigning.
03:44 They have been sent their show-cause order and more than 300 are responding to this show-cause order.
03:50 After receiving the show-cause order, the so-called candidates, supporters and others who received it should be responding within three days.
04:00 Otherwise, we will file two cases.
04:04 First, criminal case.
04:06 The case is an election offense because the Omnibus Election Code was violated in Section 18 or premature campaign.
04:12 This is a prison term of one to six years.
04:15 There is a violation of the right to vote and perpetual disqualification to hold public office.
04:20 The second case that we can file is the disqualification case under Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code for violating various regulations.
04:30 The problem with the second case is that it can be resolved faster.
04:34 If they are disqualified, they will be removed from the list of candidates and they will not be able to join the October 30 BSKE.
04:43 In other talks, sir, how is the situation in Negros Oriental for the upcoming elections?
04:52 For now, our province of Negros Oriental is quiet and peaceful.
04:58 That's why the decision of the Commission and Bank under Chairman Garcia is to continue the elections in October 30, Barangay and SK elections.
05:06 Although there are some precautions, our province of Negros Oriental is under Comelec control.
05:15 Under Comelec control, we will monitor the administration of local government units.
05:20 First, the safety of our countrymen is a priority.
05:24 Most of them are police. We will add police and soldiers to maintain the peace.
05:29 Third, we will continue our normal life there and the elections will be more organized.
05:35 Comelec promises that even if you are under Comelec control, your life will not change.
05:42 We will monitor the local government units and the security situation so they will not be abused and they will not be affected by the violations we will do in October 30.
05:53 All right sir. Aside from Negros Oriental, what are the other hot spots that we are monitoring and that we are focusing on when it comes to peace and security?
06:05 Although there is no formal declaration of Comelec or any of the areas of grave concern, there are some areas that we are monitoring,
06:16 like one town here in Albay, one town in Lanao del Sur and one town in the north.
06:24 All of these will be released by our Commission and Bank. Once approved, maybe next week we will release the classification of different towns and villages.
06:34 Don't worry. We are doing all of this for the preparation that you will be able to vote and your houses will be able to return to their proper places on October 30.
06:44 What you will see here is the presence of Comelec, the presence of PNP and AAP as an additional security for all of you.
06:52 Sir we have a question from our media partner, Zon Ballesteros of IDC 13.
07:00 Has there been a disqualification for the candidates of 2023 BSKE due to premature campaigning and vote buying? If there are any, how many are they?
07:13 As of now, there is none. If you can remember, I mentioned earlier, almost 1,200 show-cause orders were issued last week.
07:22 Their response has already started and the formal fact-finding investigation is next. What will happen in the fact-finding investigation?
07:31 First of all, their points in the show-cause order, they will explain why we saw their illegal or premature campaigning.
07:39 We have collected evidence. What are their points here? If their points are not satisfactory, we will sue them.
07:48 If we need to clarify something, our law department and the task force, Anti-EFAL, can conduct a clarification or fact-finding hearings.
07:58 After this, we determined that if we see a probable cause for filing a criminal case, we will do it.
08:07 Second, if there is a violation of Section 6A, we will file a disqualification clause and the Commission and Bank will resolve it as soon as possible.
08:17 Our commitment is that we will resolve it before the election so that the disqualified will be removed from our list.
08:25 This is a question from Noel Talacay of PTV. Can you give us an update on the ballot printing for BS-KE?
08:34 Earlier, Komelek have done the culmination ceremony for the printing of the official manual ballots and other forms of inspection of the deployment preparations in relation to BS-KE.
08:47 You're right ma'am. Earlier, Komelek and the National Printing Office formally finished the printing of our manual ballots, manual election returns,
08:58 certificates of canvas statement of votes and summary statement of votes. All of these are 92 million ballots, 430,000,
09:07 which were delivered by the National Printing Office and Komelek. We are packing these for the delivery starting October.
09:15 Earlier, after the manual ballots and manual forms, we printed the 6,000 plus final testing and sealing automated ballots.
09:26 You're right. In BS-KE, we will pilot test three barangays that will have automated elections,
09:32 Paliparan 3, Barangay Poblacion Zone 2 in Datmarinan City and Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City 6th District.
09:40 The 6,000 plus final testing of the actual ballots, since we have automated elections, we are testing the ballots one day before the election of the machine
09:50 to make sure that the count is correct. We printed this earlier this morning, it was cut and it's ready.
09:58 The next day, we will print the remaining 100,000 ballots for the three barangays that were mentioned. We will finish this within a week.
10:09 Okay sir. Next question is from Noel Talacay. What are the places to be prioritized for the delivery and the basis of prioritizing these places?
10:21 In all of the memories, we always prioritize the provinces in the Moro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
10:30 We have Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and also the province of Batanes.
10:38 We prioritize them because they are the most far away.
10:42 The last place we prioritize is the National Capital Region and the nearby towns in Region 3 and Region 4A.
10:50 We prioritize the faraway to the new and nearby memories, the ones nearer to the National Capital Region.
10:57 Okay sir. Next question is from Noel Talacay. What is the status now of the storage areas for the ballots and how can the Comelec assure the security of ballots deliveries?
11:10 Earlier, we showed our brothers and sisters that we are going to announce our National Printing Office.
11:19 We showed the premises and we also showed an example of our packing to the City Treasurer's Office.
11:27 Earlier, we demonstrated the Tarloc City, where the election returns, balota and indelible ink will be included.
11:35 We opened it and showed how to arrange it.
11:38 In a few minutes, we will go to the Santa Rosa Warehouse of Comelec, where for the first time, Chairman Garcia said,
11:45 we will open the door wide open. We will not hide anything. We will show you where the ballots and the items of Comelec will be hidden.
11:55 The Cordillera Autonomous Regions, Regions 1, 2, 3, we have packed it here in our National Printing Office.
12:04 Earlier, we saw that it is being weighed to be safe in front of the Commission on Audit Representatives and our Internal Audit Department.
12:12 Now, in a few minutes, we will go to the other warehouse to see the majority of the regions, how they are being packed and we will show the contents of each box here
12:23 so our brothers and sisters and the public can see it.
12:26 Okay sir. A message and a reminder to all those who will be participating in the upcoming barangay and the upcoming youth elections.
12:35 First of all, to our candidates, we are asking for your support in all the elections, voting and election campaign.
12:43 You can campaign until October 19 or 28. If you are elected, we already discussed the case that you will face from Comelec.
12:52 We thank the people because our fellow countrymen are speaking up for them. We made the process easy.
13:00 The formal application does not need to be filed. The evidence, pictures and videos are given to Comelec,
13:08 where, when and who is involved. Comelec is the one who is looking for evidence and investigating.
13:14 As you can see, we will be able to file a case against you if you file it.
13:20 To our fellow countrymen, a reminder, if the candidates do not know how to follow the laws,
13:27 what if we make them do their job of enforcing the law. We should be careful. Let's not vote for them.
13:35 Again, thank you very much. Long live to you and long live to the Philippines.
13:39 Thank you very much. We have interviewed Attorney John Rex Laudianco, the spokesperson of the Commission on Elections. Thank you very much.
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