The Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday signed an agreement with the Commission on Election to secure a peaceful and orderly Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections nationwide slated on 30 October.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. forged a pact with Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia at the DND headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
The signing was also witnessed by AFP Chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. and Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr., who is also in charge of the Committee on Kontra Bigay.
The Committee on Kontra Bigay targets to combat the “deplorable practice of vote buying” and calls for a collective effort to eradicate its influence on the democratic process of elections.
Teodoro said that vote-buying continues to pollute the country’s democracy.
Brawner, on the other hand, signed a separate memorandum of understanding with Garcia, allowing Comelec to deputize AFP personnel for the purpose of ensuring free, orderly, and peaceful barangay elections.
At the sidelines of the pact signing, the Comelec handed over a check to AFP amounting to P40 million in support of the military’s administrative, operational, and logistical needs “as they perform their functions relative to the upcoming BSK elections.”
Teodoro vowed the DND and AFP will judiciously perform what is mandated by the MoAs.