MANILA, Philippines–Amid the intense political rivalries in Barangay (village) Santo Domingo in Quezon City, one of the election hotspots in Metro Manila, the initial overall assessment of Monday’s elections in the village by the authorities remains positive.
Incumbent Sto. Domingo village chief Richard Yu, who is seeking his third and final term, summed up the political contest during the campaign period in their locality in a word: “hot.”
Yu told INQUIRER.net that before one of his barangay councilors was ambushed last September 3, he had received death threats from a group “Ang Partisano.” He said it happened during the last May 13 national elections. This was followed by another death threat on Saturday, the last day of the campaign period, sent by the same group.
“That was why our area was declared as election hot spot because of these untoward incidents. The Philippine National Police saw the need to augment security in our barangay. But in our monitoring so far, we have not received negative reports,” he said.
Based on the general assessment of the police, poll watchers and voters, the conduct of the elections in the village was generally “peaceful.”
Voters flock Monday to Angelicum College– polling center for Barangay Sto. Domingo in Quezon City–where over 5,000 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots. PHOTO BY JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net
He recalled the first day he received his first death threat. He said the group sent a wreath with a sash bearing his name to his house and splattered red paint at the gate of his house in Quezon City. On Saturday, unidentified persons dumped a rim of fake election disqualification papers at his gate. A brown envelope was also found among the papers containing threatening letters.
“It was only us (Yu’s camp) who got these threats. Until now, we haven’t identified who these persons are,” he said.
Barangay Sto. Domingo has 36 precincts with 5,695 registered voters.
Security
Police Inspector Luisito Noviza, team leader of the security force in the village, said in an interview with INQUIRER.net that security in their area was augmented by the police and military.
In explaining why the village was listed as an election hot spot, Yu said the recent murder of village officials was the clincher.
However, Noviza described the conduct of the elections in the village as “going well.”
“No gun and liquor ban violators were reported in the area and so far, there are no complaints of flying voters and vote-buying incidents here,” he added.
Secured venue
There were no problems met in the distribution of ballots in Sto. Domingo, said the supervising election officer Maria Utanes.
“The transportation of ballots went well. Plus in this month’s elections, the venue was more secured than in the previous ones,” Utanes told INQUIRER.net.
In previous elections, poll centers in Sto. Domingo were put up at open spaces making them vulnerable to “danger and chaos,” according to the head poll watcher.
For the October 28 elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) officers requested for a “safe venue,” which was provided by the Angelicum College along Biak na Bato in Quezon City.
“This time we’re more secured because we have adequate security forces that the Angelicum College administrators and the police provided,” she added.
According to Comelec, there are 42,028 villages nationwide with over 54 million registered voters.
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