176 missing ballots reported in Isabela

Accommodated registered voters from Rang-ayan village cast their vote beyond the 7 p.m. deadline at poll precincts in Barangay Flores as 176 ballots have been declared missing in Naguilian town, Isabela province. Photos contributed by Angelina Castueras/Luzonwide News Correspondent Publishing

NAGUILIAN, Isabela—At least 176 ballots went missing in Barangay Rang-ayan in this town, forcing the electoral board to convene and send the unaccommodated registered voters to four nearby barangays. As a result, voting was extended beyond 7 p.m. on Monday, May 9.

The registered voters trooped to identified nearby barangays of Flores, Santo Tomas, Manaring and Aguinaldo.

Lawyer Michael Camangeg, Isabela provincial election supervisor, said the electoral board applied the Commission on Elections Resolution No. 10759, which assigns protocol in such cases of missing ballots.

Accommodated registered voters from Rang-ayan village cast their vote beyond the 7 p.m. deadline at poll precincts in Barangay Flores as 176 ballots have been declared missing in Naguilian town, Isabela province. Photos contributed by Angelina Castueras/Luzonwide News Correspondent Publishing

“We identified nearby barangays with still available ballots and we asked the unaccommodated registered voters within the 7 p.m. period in Rang-ayan to proceed to the identified nearby barangays and vote there,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Camangeg said the ballots used by the villagers from Rang-ayan would be included in the boxes of the barangays where they voted, not in Rang-ayan.

One of the voters, Racquel Pagaling of Rang-ayan, said she and others were forced to vote in Flores and nearby barangays due to the missing ballots.

“We were forced to vote here (in Flores and nearby barangays) just to pick our candidates,” she said.  /ra