Batangas has yet to transmit election returns from half of its towns, cities

SAN PEDRO CITY — While other provinces had proclaimed winners in the local race, Batangas has yet to transmit election returns from half of its towns and cities due to defective SD cards.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, only 17 towns, out of 34 towns and cities, have proclaimed winners at the municipal level.

None of the province’s cities—Lipa, Tanauan, and Batangas City, has finished the canvassing of votes.

Niña Petalio, staff at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office, said the problem, as with the other provinces, is the defective cards that either need to be replaced or reconfigured.

“Say in one (town or city), there are five (faulty) SD cards, only one or two are fixed at a time.

Then (the election officers) would have to go back and pick up the rest of the cards once they’re fixed,” she said in a phone interview.

The Comelec’s regional technical hub where the cards are being reconfigured is located in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.

Petalio said the latest to finish canvassing the election results were the towns of Talisay, Taysan, Balete, San Jose, and Lemery.

“We can’t say how long this will take,” she said. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

READ: 961 VCMs, 1,665 SD cards suffer glitches in 2019 polls — Comelec