Comelec vows clean 2025 polls
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has vowed to use to the fullest its power and constitutional duty to enforce and administer election laws to ensure that the upcoming 2025 midterm polls will be clean, honest and peaceful.
Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Monday that it is the duty of the Comelec to enforce and administer election laws, and it would be a dereliction of duty if it could not enforce the law in 2025.
«This is a warning. Do not test the patience of the Commission on Elections. We will never hesitate to use the full powers of the Constitution to ensure that no lives are sacrificed at lahat makaboto» (and everyone would be able to vote)," said Garcia at the start of the Multi-Party Democracy Summit.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia. PHOTO BY J. GERARD SEGUIAGarcia made the remark as the Comelec prepared for the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which will be simultaneously held with the local and national elections on May 12, 2025.
He called on candidates and regional parties that would participate in the BARMM polls, as well as local and national candidates and other election stakeholders, to help the Comelec get rid of traditional irregularities, including vote buying, violence and terrorism, arson, and harassment, among others.
Garcia stressed that the Bangsamoro people deserve no less than a clean, honest, peaceful and credible BARMM elections, as well as in other parts of the country.
Advertisement«We will not leave any voter behind, meaning the Comelec will ensure that every qualified voter would be able to vote in the upcoming [2025] elections,» he said.
«Nobody should be disenfranchised. Not under the present leadership, not under the present administration, not under the present process or system,» Garcia said.
Garcia gave his assurance that Comelec would act accordingly based on developments that would happen in a certain area during the election.
«We will assess the level of potential violence, the level of manipulation or irregularity of the locality before it will be placed under Comelec control. It will be a difficult process because doing so
