The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has created a fact-finding body to investigate the reasons behind the delays in the elections in more than 2,4000 barangays in the country scheduled on Monday. Election Commissioner Armando Velasco, who was tasked to head the fact-finding commission, said the body “will consider all aspects that contributed to the delays" in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls in these areas. “We have created the body to look into the causes of the delays in the delivery of the election paraphernalia and election supplies. We will determine who are responsible (for these delays) and likewise give recommendations for possible reforms," he said in a press briefing on Tuesday. Velasco added that the investigation will likely include:
the Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) who facilitated the bidding among suppliers of election paraphernalia; the National Printing Office (NPO) who printed the ballots for the grassroots polls, and the forwarding firms who were in-charge of delivering the supplies to different parts of the country. BAC Chairman and concurrent Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan said his committee is open to any investigation to determine whether its members are liable for the delays. “Okay lang. Tingnan natin kung saan nangyari iyon [the delays]... Hindi naman porket iimbesitigahan ka, may suspicion sa ‘yo. Lahat lang ng dinaan ng process, matingnan," he said in the same press briefing. The fact-finding committee—whose members also include Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, Comelec clerk Josefina dela Cruz, and a local election official from the Bicol region where most delays were reported—was given 15 working days to conduct the investigation, according to Velasco. The investigating body will produce a report containing recommendations for sanctions after this period, which will be submitted to the Comelec en banc for approval, he added. Grassroots polls in 2,460 of the 42,025 barangays in the country were postponed Monday, primarily due to the delay in the delivery of election materials and the damage caused by last week’s super typhoon “Juan" in parts of northern Luzon. 2,252 barangays conduct polls Tuesday A total of 2,252 barangays where elections were earlier postponed have successfully opened polls on Tuesday morning, a poll official said. Director Divina Blas-Perez of the Comelec’s Elections and Barangay Affairs Department told GMANews.TV that these areas conducted elections on Tuesday after receiving election supplies on Monday afternoon. “These are the areas that reported to Comelec that they have successfully opened polls as of Tuesday morning," she said. Among the areas currently conducting grassroots polls is Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, where there were reports of a mix-up in the names of candidates running for barangay and SK posts, Commissioner Elias Yusoph said. “Some names of Datu Unsay candidates who filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) were not included in the official list, so elections had to be postponed," he said in the same press briefing. Some 168 barangays, mostly in Lanao del Sur and Pangasinan, are scheduled to conduct grassroots polls on Wednesday. Forty other barangays—including the Isabela towns devastated by supertyphoon “Juan"—do not have schedules yet on when to hold barangay and SK elections, according to Blas-Perez. –VVP, GMANews.TV 
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