Voting under control, counting critical, Comelec, Army say
A boy shows up the sample ballots he is
distributing to voters.
Western Visayas was lucky enough to have a "generally peaceful" conduct of election yesterday while deadly violence sparked in other parts of the country.
Albeit marked with isolated incidents of reported harassments, scattered arrests of suspected vote-buyers, electioneering even at the voting precincts, blatant violation of the gun ban, for Comelec Assistant Regional Director Tomas Valera everything was "under control."
Valera likewise made particular reference to the election-related incident in the Municipality of Libertad in the Province of Antique where opposing camps of a local bet here engaged in a shoot-out. Two were killed in the incident Friday evening while an undetermined number of supporters were injured. To avert further violence and ensure the security and safety of the village, two Army platoons were deployed here.
Yet as Valera stressed, in an over-all picture, Western Visayas remained generally peaceful with the elections generally orderly.
Volunteers from the Parish Pastoral Council for
Responsible Voting help the voters look for their
names and precincts where they are to vote.
Same early assessment made by Army Captain Lowen Gil Marquez who said yesterday's election day was manageable. What remains critical, Captain Marquez quickly added, was the voting and post-voting scenario with the candidates and supporters expected to be highly emotional.
However the Army as back-up and augmentation force of the Philippine National Police have the situation "under control." Provincial police totaled 1,597 in Iloilo alone.
Marquez added that bulk of the complaints came in Sunday evening up to early morning yesterday with series of harassments reported particularly in Northern Iloilo towns. In the Second District, police and Army forces were told of the sighting of ten armed men believed to be members of the communist-terrorists New People's Army (NPA) roving the Aleosan Area.
"As far as voting is concerned, it was peaceful. What is highly critical is the counting but we have enough forces for that," he assured.
Downtown Iloilo City looks barren as most people
troop to the polling places to vote. Others stayed
at home to monitor the conduct of elections
through mass media.
Field reports gathered by The News Today (TNT) disclosed election-day incidents and complaints in the first hours when the polling precincts officially opened.
Problems ranged from ballot boxes without keys, late teachers manning the precincts that even had at least two who served as Board of Election Inspectors in 'hot water' and series of reports on recoveries of envelopes with sample ballot and cash inside.
Amounts ranged from a measly P20 in San Miguel, Iloilo to P500 reported in towns of Tigbauan, Lambunao and Fourth and Fifth District towns. Other envelopes with sample ballots mostly contained P300.
About 8:10 a.m., a Comelec-approved Army checkpoint made its first arrest in Calinog when a man identified as Romeo Panes was discovered to have a .45 caliber pistol in his possession.
Young boys and girls distribute sample ballots with
names of certain candidates outside a polling place.
They are paid as high as Php 100 for the job.
Twenty minutes later, police of the San Enrique Police Office were told of a harassment incident where two men in their early 20s complained against an unidentified man who threatened them with a weapon while on their way to the polls.
Just about same time when eight men were arrested in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras following a police checkpoint here that yielded 115 envelopes with money with P300 each inside believed to be for vote-buying.
In Antique, tension was felt throughout the day in Barangay Magdalena in the Municipality of Anini-y after Sunday evening's strafing incident in the house of a candidate for Sangguniang Bayan. The incident was linked to the camp of a vice-mayorable and his mayorable brother.
Vendors of assorted food and drinks swarm
outside the polling places.
In Maasin, police and the Comelec were also told of a reported manhandling and harassment of one Boboy Unday, a municipal employee to a poll watcher identified as Ariel Amorte. The complainant said he was pistol-whipped using a 45 caliber pistol.
At about 10:50 a.m., father and son fell victim to a vehicular accident along Zarraga and was rushed to the Pototan Provincial Hospital. The duo on board a single motorcycle apparently lost control and went straight to a parked delivery van of a local candidate that was in the area to distribute snacks for his poll watchers.
In Capiz, another police checkpoint resulted to the arrest of seven men on board a private van discovered to have 9MM, 36 magnum, an M16 armalite rifle, fatigue uniform of the Regional Mobile Group and various ammunitions.