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Comelec vows to be non-partisan in March 13 Palawan plebiscite

Philippines | National

Comelec vows to be non-partisan in March 13 Palawan plebiscite

By Leslie Ann Aquino

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has assured the public that it will not engage in partisan politics when it leads the conduct of the Palawan plebiscite on March 13 this year.

Commission on Elections (MANILA BULLETIN)

"I would like to assure everyone that the Comelec, in holding this plebiscite, will be non-partisan. We have no position, whether we agree or disagree with this plebiscite," Comelec Commissioner Antonio T. Kho Jr. said in a virtual press briefing last week.

"We will implement whatever decision of the voters is with respect to the plebiscite, whether they will ratify or reject the partition of the province of Palawan," he added.

Except for elected officials, the Commissioner-in-charge of the plebiscite said appointed government officials and civil servants were also prohibited from being partisan.

The Comelec originally scheduled the conduct of the plebiscite to ratify the division of the province of Palawan into Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur on May 11, 2020 as provided under Republic Act No. 11259.

The law provides that the plebiscite shall be held on the second Monday of May 2020.

In April 2020, the Comelec suspended the May 11 plebiscite due to the pandemic and government’s imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.

On October 8, 2020, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) approved the proposal to already hold the plebiscite in Palawan.

The poll body then set the plebiscite on March 13, 2021.

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