Those who availed themselves of the Local Absentee Voting will start casting their votes today ahead of the May 13 midterm polls.
The Commission on Elections earlier said that the LAV may be availed by government officials and employees, members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and media practitioners that are registered voters but will not be able to vote on Election Day due to the performance of their functions.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they are ready for the start of the three-day LAV.
“We are ready to hold the local absentee voting, with a lot of it happening in the camps and in the different Comelec offices,” he said.
Based on Comelec Resolution No. 10443, local absentee voters shall be voting at any day from April 29 and 30 and May 1 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Government officials and employees as well as the police and military will vote at designated voting centers identified by their superiors and commanders.
For media men, they will vote at the Comelec offices where they also filed their LAV applications. They will vote only for the positions of senators and party-list group.
The poll body approved 34,693 total applications for LAV.
Majority came from members of the Philippine Army with 21,488 applications, followed by Philippine National Police personnel with 8,501 and the Philippine Air Force with 2,335.
Others LAV applications that were also approved came from the Department of Education, Philippine Navy, Comelec, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Labor and Employment, and media. (Leslie Aquino)
