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Cebu, Central Visayas see high voter turnout

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 those who belong to the vulnerable sectors, which created long lines even before the opening of precincts at 6 a.m.

Some polling centers in Cebu reported glitches in the operation of vote counting machines (VCM) but election officers were able to address the issues.

“We have a contingency plan. We have hubs to take care of both VCMs and SD (secure digital) card problems,” Brillantes said.

In this city, five clustered precincts at the Mambaling Elementary School were affected by malfunctioned VCMs, prompting the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) to allow voting but implemented a delayed feeding of the ballots.

Many schools in the province accommodated the vulnerable sectors in special lanes established in the polling precincts to give the senior citizens and persons with disabilities to participate in the elections with lesser hassles like joining the long queue under the heat of the sun.

Central Visayas has 5.2 million voters while Cebu province, including the highly-urbanized cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue, have 3.3 million voters.

Peace and order

Lt. Col. Wilbert Parilla, Cebu City Police Office deputy director for operations, said as of noontime of Monday, the capital city has not experienced any untoward incident that could disturb the conduct of the elections.

“So far, hapsay ra. Naghinaot ta nga hangtod mahuman ang eleksiyon, malinawon ang atong pagbotar (We hope this peaceful situation will be sustained until the end of the elections, so that we have a peaceful voting),” Parilla told reporters.

However, over the weekend, authorities reported election-related violence in Olango Island in Lapu-Lapu City involving a village councilman who was shot dead by two unidentified suspects on Sunday night.

Jose “Adam” Quiros, 30, councilman of Barangay Tungasan, died of a gunshot wound on his body after being shot by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen.

Maj. Michael Gingoyon, Lapu-Lapu police station 1 chief, said Quiros earlier had a heated argument with someone over the installation of tents near a school in the area.

The police are yet to identify the suspects.

Both Lapu-Lapu City mayoral candidates, incumbent Mayor Junard Chan and Representative Paz Radaza, condemned the killing of Quiros in their social media posts.

Meanwhile, a strafing incident was also reported in Barangay Panadtaran, San Fernando in the southern province of Cebu, but the police failed to locate the victims and suspects.

Col. Engelbert Soriano, Cebu Provincial Police Office chief, visited the San Fernando Police Station to personally oversee the ongoing investigation of the incident in Sitio Baysa.

The police recovered two of the three vehicles involved in the strafing but the police are still facing a blank wall, as Maj. Efren Diaz, the town police station chief, said they have not identified the suspects.

“We can’t say if it’s election-related. Nega (negative) for the suspects and the victims. We’re still investigating,” Diaz said.

Panadtaran is the home barangay of incumbent Mayor Lakambani Reluya. Reluya was hurt in an ambush in Talisay City in 2019, while her husband and two other persons were slain.

Source: Philippines News Agency