Thursday, May 24, 2007 Fatigue, tight sked down chief canvasser
AFTER working at least 15 hours straight, the chairman of the Special Board of Canvassers for Bogo collapsed and was rushed yesterday morning to a hospital in Cebu City.
Bohol Provincial Election Supervisor Veronico Petalcorin, the canvassers’ chairman, was answering a phone call from Bohol Provincial Police Director Edgardo Ingking at 10:25 a.m. when he suddenly slumped, clutched a chair, and nearly fainted.
He managed to sit up and keep his eyes open as Commission on Elections (Comelec) personnel and policemen carried him on his chair to a waiting police car.
He was rushed to the Visayas Community Medical Center on Osmeña Blvd., where he summoned the strength to stand up and walk toward the hospital’s entrance.
One of the staff said that Petalcorin was speaking with Ingking, shortly after taking a call from Comelec Regional Attorney Lionel Castillano.
He didn’t get to finish his phone conversation with Ingking, though, as he felt dizzy. He was advised to rest in an adjoining room, where he answered more calls.
Five minutes after it was announced that canvassing would resume, but for the national candidates only, Petalcorin was rushed to the hospital.
Many of the Comelec staff believed it was triggered by fatigue since the canvassing of election returns (ER) for Bogo proceeded non-stop since they started early Tuesday evening.
Before he was summoned to work in Cebu, Atty. Petalcorin was also kept busy attending to the elections in Bohol, whose results he escorted to Manila.
The medical emergency compelled the remaining members of the board of canvassers to take their first break, which lasted about three hours. They resumed work before 1 p.m., with vice chairman Eddie Aba taking over as presiding officer.
Outside, policemen and a company of about 60 soldiers guarded the barricaded block where the Comelec office is situated, while some 300 supporters of congressional aspirant Celestino Martinez III sat at one end, where they have waited since Tuesday.
“We are here to watch our votes and help achieve an honest election. If we lose, we lose. We will accept it,” said one of Martinez’s supporters in Cebuano.
Partisans from the camp of congressional aspirant Benhur Salimbangon occupied the other end of the block. (NRC)
