Fair and warm weather will prevail over Luzon and the Visayas, while Mindanao will experience rains on election day, a forecaster said. The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) affecting Mindanao will cause cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms over the island. “Take precautions during light to moderate, to at times heavy rains as these may cause floods and landslides,” Aldczar Aurelio of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said. He added that there is no weather disturbance and low pressure area currently being monitored inside and outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility. Meanwhile, Aurelio said fair

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said power supply remains sufficient during the national and local elections on Monday. As of 1 p.m., NGCP said the three grids are all in normal operation. Compared to its outlook last Friday, power supply in the Luzon grid increased to 14,043 megawatts in the afternoon, while actual demand of 8,035 MW was lower than the forecast demand of 9,989 MW. This has left the Luzon grid with a higher spare capacity of 6,368 MW. The same situation was observed in Visayas and Mindanao grids, in which available capacity was higher than

Unfazed by long queues at the polling precincts, voters in Cebu province and the Central Visayas region flocked to the various public schools to cast their ballots on Monday. Lawyer Jerome Brillantes, Commission on Elections (Comelec)-Cebu supervisor, observed an overwhelming turnout of voters, evidenced by stretches of lines outside the schools. Polling centers enforced minimum health standards such as physical distancing and limited the number of persons inside the clustered precincts to prevent overcrowding which may cause spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Election officers noted a throng of early birds who showed up as early as 5 a.m., especially

An improvised bomb went off on election day near a voting center in the North Cotabato town of Kabacan. Lt. Col. John Miridel Calinga,Kabacan police chief, said the blast happened at about 9:35 a.m. near the Kabacan Pilot Elementary School in Barangay Poblacion. The explosive, triggered through a mobile phone, was fashioned from a 60mm mortar explosive left beside the road at the back of the school where voting was ongoing. “Nobody was hurt and the blast did not stop voters from casting their votes,” Calinga said in an interview. No one claimed responsibility and police believed it was meant

Voters here are unfazed by long queues going to their precincts as they choose their next leaders on Monday. At the Pantoc Elementary School, there are two regular voting lines stretching as long as half a kilometer on each side as of 9 a.m. Voters have to also endure the summer heat during the long queue. A voter here shared that it took him two hours to vote as he queued around 7 a.m. He left his precinct past 9 a.m. Long lines are expected during this election, the country’s first poll under the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, as