By JENNY S. DE VENECIA
International observer intimidated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Abra
By CAMILLE ANNE DE ASIS
“Though the automation of the elections brought quite a few positive changes in the electoral system...Unfortunately, these improvements were not sufficient to break the established system of command votes, in which political leaders dictate people’s choices, and continues to thwart the true exercise of the right to suffrage,” said Salik Ibrahim of the Citizens’ Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms.
By PAULINE GIDGET R. ESTELLA
Teachers who served during the May 10 elections had to carry the burden of the lack in preparations of the Comelec. They also had to endure the people's anger at the long queues and yet some have not yet been paid.
By SONNY AFRICA / IBON Features
The challenges that the looming Aquino administration faces are gigantic but could be addressed if it has the readiness to act.
By CHERYLL D. FIEL / Davao Today
The City Board of Canvassers in Davao lowered the threshold of votes necessary for the winning candidates to be proclaimed winners. The Board proclaimed the winners five hours after it resumed counting of votes on Wednesday, May 12.
By GERMELINA LACORTE / Davao Today
Carmen Gultiano, a voter in one of the precinct clusters at the Daniel Aguinaldo National High School, came out of her precinct tired, agitated and unable to hide her frustrations after spending six hours just to vote. Gultiano arrived at her precinct at eight o’clock in the morning and was only able to vote at two thirty in the afternoon.
By CHERYLL D. FIEL / Davao Today
It was not the machine glitches that many people were worried about but the poll clerk’s hunt for names of registered voters and other verification procedures that slowed down the voting process in the recently-concluded elections.
By JETTY AYOP-OHAYLAN AND MARIETTA BASTE-HERNANI / Davao Today
In Marahan Central Elementary School in the city’s third district, the voting pace was slow, and even those who went before the poll centers opened waited for five hours for their turn to vote. The school had two precincts with 1,000 total voters. By noon, only 30 percent of the total number has cast their votes.
By GRACE S. UDDIN / Davao Today
A supporter of House Speaker Prospero Nograles was detained at the Sta. Ana police station for alleged vote buying on the day of the elections.
By MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN / Davao Today
In Buhangin area, a voter saw the name of a dead relative while others look for the name of a living family member.
By GRACE S. UDDIN / Davao Today
Captain Emmanuel Garcia, spokesperson of the 10th ID-AFP, said an undetermined number of rebels attacked soldiers of the 66th Infantry Battalion escorting a group of Board of Election Inspectors (BEI’s) for the canvassing of votes at the municipal hall of Maragusan.
By RITCHE T. SALGADO
With reports from JOSEPH BACUD
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 7 boasted of an 80 percent voter turnout. Pagbabago! Cebu said a number of votes were disenfranchised due to the Comelec's inability to foresee simple and preventable problems.
By RITCHE T. SALGADO
As in most parts of the country, long queues and technical glitches affected the conduct of elections in Central Visayas. In Cebu, there were reports that indicated that only 50 percent of voters have been accommodated by 6:45 p.m.
MAGUINDANAO -- Residents push their way inside a polling precinct in Buldon town. Hundreds of voters are getting impatient -- shouting, shoving, banging the doors of the precinct, demanding that they be allowed in. An army soldier tries to break a scuffle while poll watchers and the BEIs insist that voting should be one at a time. This year's elections, will serve as a test to Philippines’ fragile democracy. Once an inspiration to emerging democracies for its “people power” overthrow of the American-backed autocrat Ferdinand E. Marcos, the Philippines has suffered from poor governance in the past decade.
DAVAO CITY -- Voting in Barangay Centro Agdao is going at a snail's pace. Lines are long and at the rate the automated voting is progressing, observers fear many will not be able to cast their ballots by the time polling centers close. Voters who have agonized waiting in line grudgingly call the PCOS machines "tikas machines", with pun intended. Workers, who still have to report for work and those who find the long lines and the wait much too daunting, have already left the precincts without casting their votes.
The final testing and sealing (FTS) in Marikina City was held on May 6, earlier than the announced May 7 testing. Board of Election inspectors and watchers are waiting as early as 10am but machine arrived after lunch. No ballot boxes were delivered.
In the final testing and sealing in Palatiw Elementary School in Pasig City on May 8, the common problem was the startup of the PCOS machine. The machine in Precinct 107 displayed the COMELEC logo for a long time. The machine had to be turned on and off. Many other machines unexpectedly shut down.
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