Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Missing names, other complaints noted at Mabalacat polls By Reynaldo G. Navales
MABALACAT -- The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections were generally peaceful but complaints about voters’ missing names, candidates entering and staying for unnecessary period of time, and related concerns were also reported, an election official here said.
Municipal Election Officer Joselito Matias said no major incident was reported.
Mabalacat Police Chief Jovencio Flores was singing the same tune.
He said peace and order in the town was properly maintained by police officers, with the assistance of Bantay Bayans and other anti-crime volunteer groups.
Matias earlier issued a memorandum stating that candidates in the barangay and SK elections are not allowed to repeatedly go in and out of the polling places. He said they are only allowed to stay 50 meters away from places where casting of votes will take place.
However, Sun.Star Pampanga received numerous complaints about some candidates entering and staying along the premises of schools where poll precincts are situated.
Flores, however, was quick to belie the report.
There were also complaints about voters’ missing names. Some voters were disenfranchised and decided to just go home after failing to find their names in the list of voters posted at poll precincts.
Matias denied this, saying there were no missing names. He said some poll precincts were clustered and others were merged, resulting in the transfer of the names of some voters to other rooms.
He said voters in each precinct must not exceed 300 as provided for in the directive issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) national office.
However, there were some voters who failed to find their names in rooms near their original precincts. Vey David, 33, for instance used to cast her vote in a precinct at the Dau Central Elementary School. In the May 14 national and local elections, she did not find her name in the adjacent precincts. It was the same case on Monday.
At present, there are 460 poll precincts in the entire town. In the May 14 elections there were only 399 polling precincts.
Last week, the Mabalacat police, in coordination with the Comelec and the Municipal Government, initiated the signing of a peace covenant among candidates of barangay leaders in different villages here to ensure an honest and orderly election.
