Mock polls almost perfect: Comelec

THE result of the mock elections Saturday morning turned out positive after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its partner reported an almost perfect dry run despite slight delays.

The Comelec in Davao Region originally planned the mock elections to run from 8 to 10 a.m., but poll officials have to replace a number of the randomly selected voters in two designated clustered precincts due to non-appearance.

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"Although there were these delays, naging maayos, peaceful at successful naman ang ating mock elections," said Comelec-Davao Region regional attorney Danilo Cullo.

Nine out of 50 selected voters did not appear in Generoso Elementary School, Barangay Bago Aplaya, while 17 out of 50 did not appear in A. Navarro Elementary School in Barangay Likanan, Lasang.

Cullo, who monitored Bago Aplaya, and Comelec-Davao Region second district election officer lawyer John Cubero, who oversaw operations in Lasang, said the voters were notified by the barangay officials but some were unable to appear due to various reasons.

Cubero said via phone interview voters who are residents of the area replaced the 17 voters who were absent.

Cullo, however, decided to replace the nine absent voters with five Comelec members or Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), two from the civil society groups, and two journalists.

In Bago Aplaya, one ballot was rejected as the voter checked the space provided instead of shading it.

"The voters were given the instruction to shade the circles with the pentel pens but instead nilagyan ng check so ni-reject ng PCOS machine (precinct count optical scanner) kasi hindi mabasa," Cullo said.

"Ang kailangang gawin is i-shade ng maayos yung bilog na naka-assign sa kadidato at hindi sobrahan yung boto," Cullo said.

Transmission of election returns finished just two hours after the voting period ended.

Peaceful

Task Force Davao chief Col. Oscar Lactao and Davao City Police office director Senior Superintendent Rene Aspera kept an eye on Bago Aplaya and said the procedure was peaceful.

"We're very positive, it's good this went very peaceful walang gulong nangyari. This mock election was a success," Lactao said.

He added a battalion is currently reserved for deployment in the city for the elections.

Critics

The procedure did not slip past criticisms both from the watchers and those who replaced the selected voters who were absent.

Kabataan Party-list regional coordinator Ronnie Clarion said the two hours allotment for 50 voters is not proportional to the hundreds of voters who will cast their votes during the actual voting day, which will run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on May 10.

"We also timed gaano ka tagal mag cast ng vote yung voters. We timed five minutes and seven conds sa pinakamadali; seven minutes and 57 seconds yung pinakamatagal. May delay sa puntong magaantay ka pa sa nauna sa iyo bago mo maulog sa machine yung balota mo," Clarion said.

Bernales noted the ballots are in English thus might provide difficulty for others.

"It's very easy lalo na kung nakakuha ka na ng mga exam like Civil Service Exam kasi pareho lang yung format niya, that you have to shade a circle corresponding to your answer. Kaya lang maliit yung font, I think 11 lang yung font size and also it’s in English baka hindi maintindihan ng iba," Bernales said.

Sisters' Association in Mindanao executive secretary Sr. Elsa Compuesto, who was among those chosen as replacement voter, said the original 50 mock voters in Bago Aplaya were not loosely selected in terms of their demographics.

"I observed na out of 50, 31 yung female and 19 yung male. And the oldest in the list is 57 years old while the youngest is 19. I think it should also have yung mga matatanda talaga na bumuboto pa," Compuesto said.

The clustered precinct in Lasang "closed" or stopped receiving ballots at 10:10 a.m. and the transmition of data was finished before 11 a.m., while the precinct in Bago Aplaya closed around 10:30 a.m. while the transmition ended past 11 a.m.

Cullo said after a clustered precinct closes the data or election results in that area is transmitted to the National Comelec office in Manila, the Minicipal/City Board of Canvassers, and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) or (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines).

Comelec earlier said voters need to protect their ballot because they would only be given one chance to vote.