LUCENA CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) set up an “enhanced continuity plan” to ensure an unhampered special election on Saturday (Feb. 25) in the congressional race in Cavite’s 7th district.
Lawyer John Rex Laudiangco, the Comelec Education and Information Department spokesman, reported that the poll body had set up four “technical hubs,” one each in Amadeo, Indang, Tanza and Trece Martires City.
He said each of the hubs “is capable of reconfiguring within one minute any secure digital (SD) card which may present issues.”
“These technical hubs ensured that SD cards may be brought to its facilities and returned to the voting center within 5 to 30 minutes,” Laudiangco said in a press statement, a copy of which was posted by the Cavite police on its Facebook page.
The Comelec conducted the special election for the congressional seat vacated by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
The 7th district covers the towns of Tanza, Indang, Amadeo, and Trece Martires City.
The Comelec also deployed “1-is-to-1 Vote Counting Machine (VCM) contingency on-site at the voting centers (schools), enabling the respective Electoral Boards to replace and return-to-function any VCM, which has a technical issue, if any, within ten (10) minutes.”
The Comelec spokesman assured that the casting of votes “will continue [to be] unhampered, without any delay or interruption, enabling voters on queue to personally feed their ballots in the VCM in less than thirty (30) minutes from the implementation of the said contingency procedures and measures.”
The poll official said all 426 clustered precincts in the 75 voting centers in Amadeo, Indang, Tanza and Trece Martires City opened at 6.a.m. and closed at 7 p.m.
The district has 355,184 registered voters.
The four aspirants for the vacated congressional seat include provincial Board Member Crispin Diego Remulla, son of the justice secretary; former Trece Martires City Mayor Melencio Loyola de Sagun Jr.; Jose Angelito Aguinaldo; and Michael Angelo Santos.
The winner may be proclaimed on Sunday morning, Feb. 26, according to the Comelec.