Despite tense moments, Makati polls peaceful, police say

Voters at the Pio del Pilar Elementary School in Makati City look for their names before casting their ballots Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. RYAN LEAGOGO

MANILA, Philippines – Despite tense moments in polling centers, barangay (village) elections in Makati City remain peaceful with no reports of election-related violence, said police authorities on Monday.

“Almost all of our monitoring showed orderly (elections),” Superintendent Manuel Lukban Jr. of the Makati Philippine National Police told INQUIRER.net.

But Lukban said there was one teacher in Barangay San Isidro allegedly caught tampering with the voters’ list.

“Reports said the teacher was found in the comfort room removing something from the voters’ sheet,” he said.

Lukban said there was a “commotion” and police immediately went to the school. However, they had to turn over the teacher to the Board of Election Tellers for appropriate action.

“It will be their decision to retain the teacher or not,” he said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Lukban said tempers rose in Barangay Carmona after a Board of Election Supervisor stopped suspected flying voters.

Police intervention was also requested in San Lorenzo village because of the large number of poll watchers in the precinct.

“They asked for our assistance so (police) had to enter the polling center to maintain peace and order,” Lukban said.

He explained that the voting in San Lorenzo was being held in a basketball court, where it is harder to control the flow of people, because there was no school in the area.

Makati has 46 polling centers in 33 villages and 411,218 registered voters.

Lukban said 390 policemen from Makati, augmented by 70 more from other areas, were deployed for election-related duties.

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