Election officials plan to use 16 schools in Tagbilaran City as voting centers for the Nov. 2, 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, accommodating 194 polling precincts citywide.
Roco Lamanilao, head of the Commission on Elections office in Tagbilaran, said the poll body has finished inspecting the proposed sites and is coordinating with the Department of Education to ensure the facilities are ready.
In Poblacion 2, voters will cast ballots at Bohol Island State University and Dr. Cecilio Putong National High School.
Cogon district will have two voting centers. Dao Elementary School will also serve as a polling site despite ongoing renovations, Lamanilao said.
He said the schools are in acceptable condition and that Comelec continues working with school officials to resolve any logistical issues before election day.
More than 600 public school teachers from Tagbilaran will serve on the Board of Election Tellers.
Comelec has not set a date for their training but said it will take place before the election. The office is also awaiting delivery of ballots and other election materials.
Comelec officials said preparations remain on track for a smooth, accessible and secure vote on Nov. 2.
The Tagbilaran preparations come as the November elections face growing uncertainty at the national level.
Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez filed House Bill 10591 on Aug. 4 seeking to postpone the BSKE from November 2026 to November 2028.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia has said the decision on any postponement rests with Congress and the executive branch, not the poll body.
Garcia said on Aug. 17 that the uncertainty over whether the elections will proceed should be resolved before candidacy filing begins in September, adding he hoped the matter would be settled by the end of September.
Garcia has also warned that postponing the polls could waste about P8 billion pesos already spent on preparations out of a 19-billion-peso budget, and noted it would mark the second deferral of the grassroots elections after they were previously moved from 2025.
Despite the postponement push, Comelec confirmed in July that the elections would proceed as scheduled using a manual voting system, with the election period running from Oct. 3 to Nov. 9, certificate of candidacy filing set for Sept. 28 to Oct. 5, and campaigning from Oct. 22 to 31.
The elections were originally due in December 2025 but were reset to November 2026 under Republic Act 12232, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed to allow Comelec to focus on the first BARMM parliamentary elections.
As of press time, no law postponing the November election had been passed, and preparations — including in Tagbilaran — continue under the existing schedule.