Pangilinan calls for two-hour extension of voting in areas affected by faulty VCMs

Sen. Kiko Pangilinan queues to be able to vote in Inchican, in Silang, Cavite. Image from his Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — Vice presidential candidate Senator Francis “Kiko” Panglinan on Monday called for the extension of the national and local elections for at least two hours, especially in areas affected by malfunctioning vote counting machines (VCMs).

“Kabi-kabilang report ang natatanggap natin patungkol sa mga VCM at SD card na hindi umaandar at kailangan palitan,” said Pangilinan in a statement.

(We received several reports regarding VCMs and SD cards that are not working and need to be replaced)

“Nananawagan ako na i-extend ng Comelec (Commission on Elections) ng 2 oras ang pagboto sa mga lugar na apektado ng mga aberyang ito,” he added.

(I call on the Comelec (Commission on Elections) to extend voting for 2 hours in the areas affected by these irregularities.)

According to Pangilinan, the delay is not the fault of the voters as most have counted hours while lining in queues, hence the more reason why all Filipinos should be given the opportunity to finish casting their votes.

Apart from the VCMs breaking down, numerous reports of voters being asked to sign waivers (apparently due to the lack of paper for the voters’ receipt) flooded social media throughout the entire day of the May 9 elections.

Some reports also claimed that watchers told voters to just leave their ballots after signing the said waiver, however, Comelec assured the public that the practice of leaving ballots behind if vote-counting machines (VCMs) malfunction is part of the protocol placed to ensure that voters are not disenfranchised.

But the Comelec clarified that no voters would no longer get receipts of their ballot.

Other incidents were also reported in different polling precincts, including a shooting incident in Maguindanao where three barangay peacekeepers were shot to death, and a fire that struck a polling precinct in Manila.

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