There is an ongoing reshuffle of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) field officials.

Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said the move is being done every elections and periodically to "prevent familiarity between Comelec officials and local politicians."

"This is a standard practice for the Comelec," he said in a press briefing on Jan. 25.

Jimenez said the series of reshuffles started first with the regional directors about more than four months ago.

After that, he said, they also reshuffled the assistant regional directors and provincial supervisors.

"I think the reshuffling is ongoing all the way down to the election officer level," said Jimenez.

The Comelec is also establishing a regional network of spokespersons.

"We are training regional spokespersons coming from the Comelec's ranks of course," said Jimenez.

"These are assistant regional directors, provincial election supervisors etc. who are being given the designation of regional spokesperson," he added.

"We have already deployed these regional spokesperson for the mock elections and you will see an increasing role for them as the days go by," Jimenez said.

Meanwhile, more Philippine posts abroad will use the automated election system (AES) in the 2022 polls.

"The posts have actually looked at automation. They want automation now," Jimenez said.

The two modes under automation are in person voting and postal or by mail voting.

Based from the data of the poll body, 46 Philippine posts will use automated system. This is higher than the 41 posts that used the AES in the 2019 polls.