An accessible voting center will open at Bangar Elementary School in Barangay Fianza, San Nicolas, Pangasinan, to serve Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

San Nicolas election officer Gina Aquino said in an interview on Thursday that 110 regular voters and 33 SK voters, all IPs, will benefit from the accessible voting center.

“Actually, this is the prayer of the Iwak tribe way back. Although there are two voting centers in Barangay Fianza, the number of sitios and the distance between them mean that voters from the highlands suffer,” she said.

Aquino said that through the initiative of Comelec – Ilocos Region Director Reddy Balarbar and Pangasinan Provincial Election Supervisor Marino Salas, the request for another polling precinct was approved.

“They really need to walk to get there (polling precinct), and before you can get there, you need to ride a customized, specialized vehicle. They will literally climb the mountain and cross a river, which takes three to five hours one-way travel time,” she said.

Barangay Fianza has a total of 638 regular voters and 215 SK voters for this election.

Meanwhile, Balarbar said two malls in Ilocos Region will also pilot the mall voting in the BSKE.

One will be at Nepo Mall in Dagupan City to serve some voters in Barangay Pantal and help decongest the village’s polling precincts, and another will be at SM City La Union in San Fernando City.

“Mall voting is for the convenience of voters, and usually these barangays have smaller voting centers; that’s why we need to put up a mall voting in their area,” he said.

Amid the Senate’s approval on second reading of a bill postponing the BSKE from November 2026 to November 2028 and extending the terms of village and youth officials to five years, the bill has yet to be passed into law, so Comelec preparations for the polls are ongoing.

“The word READY stands for being responsive, excellent, accountable, dedicated, and yield-oriented. In addition, I urge the officers to be ready to serve Pangasinenses and Ilocano voters with honor,” Balarbar said. (PNA)