Comelec hails Cebu election ‘successful’; balloting peaceful

As voting closed at 7 p.m. in Cebu, the local Commission on Elections and law enforcers  said the May 13 exercise was “successful” with no lives lost and balloting carried out in a peaceful, orderly manner.

Voter turnout was estimated at more than 70 percent or a little less than the 2010 presidential election of almost 80 percent, said Comelec Regional Director Temie Lambino, although exact figures will be known today.

Lambino said he was “not worried” about scattered reports of malfunctioning vote count machines in the morning because the units were later replaced.

A total of 215 PCOS machines in Central Visayas bogged down, mostly in Cebu (134), followed by Negros Oriental (40), Bohol (34) and Siquijor (7),which could delay overall results for two to three hours.

There were 5,700 PCOS machines fielded in the region.

VOTE-BUYING

The striking record was the arrest of at least 12  men for vote-buying in south Cebu towns of Pinamungahan, Santander, and Alegria and Naga City in the south, and Danao City in the north over the weekend and on election day.   Most of them were identified with candidates of One Cebu and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Charges were filed or being prepared against the suspects.  (See related story on page 8)

An amount of P400,000 was initially confiscated from an armed man at a checkpoint in Pinamungahan town on Sunday afternoon.

But the town police released the suspect, Ignacio Calidguid of barangay Anopog, after a manager vouched for him and the money as funds allegedly intended to buy “junk”.  The statement of Jose Gabo, manager of Ientel Motolite Marketing Corp. was witnessed by two lawyers affiliated with gubernatorial candidate Pablo John Garcia of One Cebu.

Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo, in a media briefing, said he has ordered the investigation of the town policeman responsible for the “hasty release” of the money and the suspect.

“This is a good test case to investigate who is behind this.  Two lawyers quickly arrived in the evening.” He identified them as Marvin Miralles and  Juanlit Molo.

GUNS, GOLD

Garbo said his standing order for the police to “go after guns, goons and gold – no ifs or buts” was carried out regardless of political parties.

“There were more arrests now than compared to the 2010 election,” he said, which he called a good sign that the “security plan” of the Comelec, PNP and AFP was successful.

The series of arrests by police and members of the Public Safety Battalion who fanned across Cebu days earlier was described as  a new record.

Brig Gen. Lysander Suerte, deputy commander  of the Central Command, said that in his years of participating in political exercises, “I think this is the best experience” so far working with the Comelec and PNP and “an improvement of previous elections.”

“In this election, I see the very vigorous implementation of what are banned.  When we arrest more, it should be taken in a positive light.  It shows a greater awareness of the public and media of vote-buying. Let us celebrate that there are more cases being reported by the public because we are implementing the law.

He cited a citizens arrest for vote buying made yesterday morning made in Iloilo city.

“This is a first!  We should declare these Filipinos heroes… for the first time in history, someone is standing up against vote-buying.”

In Carcar City, south Cebu, a group of six to ten armed men fired warning shots and stopped  a Comelec vehicle carrying ballot boxes and  PCOS machines at 4 a.m.

No election materials were taken but the military escort was stripped of his ammunition.

“We know the group.  They must return what they got from us because we will operate against the group,” said Brig. Gen. Suerte, who declined to identify the political party in the southern city.

“We are doing something to teach them a lesson,”  he said.

Magazines and a bandolier or shoulder belt to hold ammunition were among the items taken by the armed men.  Poll clerks, traveling with a soldier and police escort, were unharmed.  No shots were fired.

Lambino said the incident shows “we were prepared to secure the electoral process” and proof that the security plan of the Comelec, PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines succeeded.

ROOM TO IMPROVE

He said there were many lessons for the Comelec and “room to improve” the process of voting.

But Lambino said he saw the “greatest opportunity” in the fact that “civil society can do so much for the enforcement of laws especially in Cebu where participation is strong.”

While his advocacy against illegal campaign materials “was no so successful” with posters and streamers still sprouting in public areas, he was was still proud that concrete steps were taken to reduce what was rampant in past elections.

Msgr. Roberto Alesna of the watchdog group C-Cimpel noted the late start of what should have been voting at 7 a.m. sharp in many precincts  and the malfunction of at least 12 PCOS machines in Toledo City, and towns of Alcoy, Argao and Sibonga. He said these were similar problems that occurred in the 2010 election.

Lambino of Comelec said poll clerks may have “miscalculated” the time needed for their mandated duty to show the public the empty ballot boxes and other paraphernalia as part of “transparency” before the start of voting.

Long lines for voters, with wait periods of one to three hours, were also reported. But for some early birds or those who came toward the 7 p.m. close of voting, the crowds were gone and balloting was done in a few minutes. /Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter with Christine Emily Pantaleon