Several cities on Saturday were deep in preparation for Monday’s national and local elections, as local governments set up schools and made sure systems assuring the orderly conduct of voting were in place.

In San Juan city, voters in barangays Tibagan, St. Joseph, and Isabelita are expected to flock Pinaglabanan Elementary School next week.

Catering to almost 9,000 voters, the school ensured there are adequate measures in place to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Two temperature scanners will be set up — one at the school entrance and the other prior to entering a building.

Voters of each barangay have their own sections in the building to minimize crowding and social mixing.

Directional arrows have also been pasted on the floors to guide voters.

Those who show COVID-19 symptoms will be guided to a tent assigned as an isolation polling place.

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At Xavier School, the same virus protocols are in place.

Data gathered by the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group show that Xavier School will cater to more than 12,000 registered voters in the city.

Prominent names in showbiz and politics are expected to cast their votes here on Monday.

San Juan has some 109,000 registered voters.

In Taguig, preparations were ongoing at Tenement Elementary School, which has the most number of registered voters in the country.

According to ABS-CBN Research and Investigative group, there are more than 46,000 registered voters or more than 10% of Taguig’s voting population.

Roads have been shut in front of the school, as hundreds of people are expected to be in the area.

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At Magat Salamat Elementary School in Tondo, tents and chairs were set up Saturday morning. It ranked fourth among schools with the most registered voters (31,511).

Teachers there said they did not encounter problems during the final testing and sealing so they are expecting smooth operations on Monday.

Presidential candidate Isko Moreno Domagoso is expected to cast his vote at Magat Salamat.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Army said it has tapped nearly 400 troops as a contingency force. It earlier deployed troops to augment the Joint Task Force-NCR at the start of the election season last January.

Its major units division has also deployed nearly 4,000 soldiers as augmentation forces for the May 9 polls.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), for its part, has ordered telcos and internet providers to temporarily stop their network repairs to ensure unimpeded service during the elections.

The suspension of maintenance work is effective until May 14.

— With reports from Raphael Bosano, Lady Vicencio and Michael Delizo, ABS-CBN News

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