Perennial problems mar Brgy, SK polls
Perennial problems plagued the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections yesterday.
Lawyer Dennis Ausan, Comelec director in Western Visayas, said they received complaints and reports of voters who could not find their names in the official list of voters in the polling precincts.
But Ausan said the voters who experience this problem were much fewer than in previous elections.
The Comelec also received reports and complaints over confusion in the list of candidates for barangay elections.
Some candidates were erroneously listed in positions other than the one they were running for in the official list of candidates.
Ausan said there were errors because of the large number of candidates who filed are running for barangay captain and members of the barangay council.
But like the national and local elections, reports and allegations of vote-buying plagued yesterday’s elections.
The reports include cash payments from P50-P100 and candidates treating voters free meals or snacks.
The Comelec in Antique sent soldiers to the hinterland villages of Laua-an, Tibiao and Sebaste towns to check on reports that unidentified armed persons where roaming in the area Sunday evening, said Antique election supervisor Gil Barcenal in a telephone interview.
Barcenal said they expect a high turnout at around 80 percent because historically, a higher number of votes cast their votes because the candidates are known to them.
In Iloilo City the conduct of elections was generally peaceful.
Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) Director Senior Supt. Wesley Barayuga said there was no report of election-related violent incidents in the city until the voting centers closed at 3 p.m. yesterday.
Barayuga said a police team was deployed in each of the polling places in the city to ensure a peaceful and orderly conduct of elections. He said his men only received complaints regarding the illegal campaigning and distribution of campaign paraphernalia by some candidates.
City Election Officer Jonathan Sayno urged the complainants to file official complaints against those who openly campaigned during election day at their office.
Sayno observed that the conduct of elections in the city went smoothly except for minor problems like the missing names of voters and the mix-up of the names of candidates.