By Marilyn E. Galang
CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, (PNA) — Two of the 849 incoming village heads in the province won their posts through lottery.
Despite heavy campaign in the past few weeks, Antonio Valdez of Barangay Recuerdo, Nampicuan town and Dante Valdez of Barangay Marikit in Pantabangan town got votes tied with their respective rivals in Monday’s barangay elections.
Thus, according to the Nueva Ecija police’s provincial election monitoring and action center, they agreed on lottery or toss coin officiated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as a means to break such ties.
Antonio Valdez who slugged it out with Elpidio Ibuyat garnered 342 votes after the canvassing Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, a lottery was officiated by the Comelec which resulted in the winning of Valdez.
Dante Valdez , on the other hand, had a tie with Rosario Torres as they both gained 459 votes.
The Comelec officiated a toss coin which led to Valdez’s victory on Tuesday.
The provincial election office said lottery or toss coin was practiced in breaking up the tie between two opposing candidates.
Senior Supt. Crizaldo Nieves, Nueva Ecija police director said that the election in the province has been generally peaceful, without any recorded incidence of violence.