by Louise Dumas
Despite the seemingly successful first automated elections in the country, various irregularities were monitored by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting – Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro Chapter (PPCRV-ACDO).
In Alubijid, a voter returned his ballot to the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) because the section for the local slate has already been shaded in favor of candidates belonging to the Lakas-Kampi party. These pre-shaded ballots apparently were all over the archdiocese and the rest of the country, as reported by other media outfits and electoral watchdogs.
Other than this, numerous Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines have bogged down on the morning of election day. Machines in Balingasag, San Simon, and Jasaan have jammed or shut down. In Sagay, Camiguin, after 60 voters, the machine stopped receiving ballots and had to be restarted.
Fr. Nathaniel C. Lerio, head of PPCRV-ACDO expressed his concern that even if the machines get replaced eventually, the time wasted would mean lesser voters accommodated. “Fastest replacement takes 45 minutes to one hour,” he said. “During that time, no one is able to vote and this is in addition to the slow turnover of voters inside the precinct. We tried calling the local Smartmatics but they would not answer our calls.”
Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma likewise expressed his concern over the accommodation of the entire voting population. “When I voted earlier today, I noted that it takes two to five minutes to process per vote,” he said. “At this rate, they will only be able to accommodate around 12 voters per hour. I suggested that they add more people to facilitate the first step - the checking of records of the voters, which is the bottleneck of the process.”
The PPCRV, coordinated primarily by the Archdiocesan Good Governance Apostolate (AGGAp), had six desks monitoring the districts under the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro. Additionally, there had been a roving team which gave support to areas with few volunteers and made report-gathering faster. “It is very necessary that we get the reports promptly,” said Fr. Lerio, referring to the fourth copy of the official election results accorded to the PPCRV. “The new election process has fast outputs. We have to countercheck the reports as fast as we can and we cannot afford delays.”
In Lanao del Sur, dubbed “the cheating capital of the country,” despite the strict barring of people from the canvassing area which is at the Capitol Grounds of Marawi City, among the groups allowed to enter the place had been the PPCRV. The PPCRV, in the province, however, had no established secretariat and their reports are consolidated by the regional group in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
The PPCRV, headed by Rev. Teresito L. Soganub, in this largely Islamic province had also noted the high inefficiency of many of the PCOS machines. “Many of the machines were brought to the polling precincts only in the morning of May 10,” he said. “Additionally, they should have done the testing months back to allow the people to familiarize with the process and give allowance for the replacement or repair of the defective machines. These problems are playing to the advantage of some politicians who are using the ignorance of the people especially as it is the first automated elections.”
The province also saw several gunfights between warring parties. The worst case had been at the municipality of Tugaya where two people died. Six municipalities were not able to conduct their elections on May 10 due to several reasons, the absence of the BEIs, COMELEC officials, and PCOS machines and CF cards among them.
Despite the seemingly successful first automated elections in the country, various irregularities were monitored by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting – Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro Chapter (PPCRV-ACDO).
In Alubijid, a voter returned his ballot to the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) because the section for the local slate has already been shaded in favor of candidates belonging to the Lakas-Kampi party. These pre-shaded ballots apparently were all over the archdiocese and the rest of the country, as reported by other media outfits and electoral watchdogs.
Other than this, numerous Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines have bogged down on the morning of election day. Machines in Balingasag, San Simon, and Jasaan have jammed or shut down. In Sagay, Camiguin, after 60 voters, the machine stopped receiving ballots and had to be restarted.
Fr. Nathaniel C. Lerio, head of PPCRV-ACDO expressed his concern that even if the machines get replaced eventually, the time wasted would mean lesser voters accommodated. “Fastest replacement takes 45 minutes to one hour,” he said. “During that time, no one is able to vote and this is in addition to the slow turnover of voters inside the precinct. We tried calling the local Smartmatics but they would not answer our calls.”
Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma likewise expressed his concern over the accommodation of the entire voting population. “When I voted earlier today, I noted that it takes two to five minutes to process per vote,” he said. “At this rate, they will only be able to accommodate around 12 voters per hour. I suggested that they add more people to facilitate the first step - the checking of records of the voters, which is the bottleneck of the process.”
The PPCRV, coordinated primarily by the Archdiocesan Good Governance Apostolate (AGGAp), had six desks monitoring the districts under the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro. Additionally, there had been a roving team which gave support to areas with few volunteers and made report-gathering faster. “It is very necessary that we get the reports promptly,” said Fr. Lerio, referring to the fourth copy of the official election results accorded to the PPCRV. “The new election process has fast outputs. We have to countercheck the reports as fast as we can and we cannot afford delays.”
In Lanao del Sur, dubbed “the cheating capital of the country,” despite the strict barring of people from the canvassing area which is at the Capitol Grounds of Marawi City, among the groups allowed to enter the place had been the PPCRV. The PPCRV, in the province, however, had no established secretariat and their reports are consolidated by the regional group in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
The PPCRV, headed by Rev. Teresito L. Soganub, in this largely Islamic province had also noted the high inefficiency of many of the PCOS machines. “Many of the machines were brought to the polling precincts only in the morning of May 10,” he said. “Additionally, they should have done the testing months back to allow the people to familiarize with the process and give allowance for the replacement or repair of the defective machines. These problems are playing to the advantage of some politicians who are using the ignorance of the people especially as it is the first automated elections.”
The province also saw several gunfights between warring parties. The worst case had been at the municipality of Tugaya where two people died. Six municipalities were not able to conduct their elections on May 10 due to several reasons, the absence of the BEIs, COMELEC officials, and PCOS machines and CF cards among them.
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