PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, (PNA) -– Uninterrupted showers and thunderstorms which caused inundations in certain areas in Puerto Princesa and Palawan failed to discourage over 580,000 registered voters in participating in Monday’s barangay election, according to the Provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Panchito Reynoso, assistant election officer of the Comelec in the province, said that as of 3:30 p.m., partial unofficial reports coming from the fields claimed there is a “relatively fair voter’s turnout” although he cannot give any exact figure yet.
“We cannot give any exact figure yet of the voter’s turnout unless our boards of canvassers (BoC) in the municipalities have submitted their report. Remember that the difference here is that the barangay election is not automated so, it is understandable that there will slight delays in the submission of their reports. But according to our field officers, although it is raining, people are still lining up within 30 meters in the poll precincts even after the 3:00 p.m. deadline. We are still expecting a fair high voter’s turnout,” Reynoso said.
Meanwhile, 12th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT 12) commanding officer Lt. Col. Rodel Martires told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a telephone interview that in southern Palawan, voter’s turnout in the municipalities are: Aborlan-87%, Narra-90%, Sofronio Espanola-85%, Brooke’s Point-80%, Quezon-80%, Rizal-80%, Bataraza-85%, and Balabac-80%.
No voter’s turnout has been received as of yet from the distant island municipality of Kalayaan in the West Philippines Sea (WPS), which is part of the jurisdiction of southern Palawan, Martires said.
Incidentally, Kalayaan has been reported, where barangay election was reportedly cancelled due to strong winds and waves. Reynoso clarified this is not true because their assigned board of election tellers and canvassers are in the area facilitating the polling exercise for over 200 voters there.
He said he does not know how or where the report came from. “We do not know how that started. All we know is that our people are in Kalayaan now managing the holding of the barangay election for residents,” he said.
Military, police, and election authorities described the holding of the rain-drenched barangay election as “generally peaceful and manageable without any significant incident.”
“We thanked the people of Puerto Princesa for cooperating with us, we thanked the candidates for the barangay election for respecting peace and order in the holding of this election,” Senior Superintendent Abad Ocit said.
He added that they were also unable to arrest anyone who violated the anti-liquor ban that was imposed Sunday.
Martires, who is in charge of military efforts over the election situation in southern Palawan, said the areas of concern (AOC) – municipalities of Rizal and Bataraza – were also people during the election.
“What were reported to us were about minor floods due to heavy rains in Bataraza, other than that, election in southern Palawan was peaceful and orderly, and we thank the people for their cooperation, as well as the barangay candidates,” he said.
In northern Palawan, 2nd Lt. Lijan Luna, spokesperson of the 4th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT 4), also said election passed without any untoward incident. Roving patrols, she said, will remain until the counting of ballots is over.
Glitches recorded during the holding of the election in Palawan range from blackout in Barangay Luzviminda in Puerto Princesa City as 3 p.m., the designated end of the barangay polling; and flooding in schools that serve as voting centers in Bataraza in southern Palawan.
There were also reports of massive vote-buying in the city, and some towns, the Comelec said. Lawyer Orlando Baa-lan said official filing of election offenses should be done as soon as possible to resolve the issues.