IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO FIND POLL PRECINCTS
There were numerous complaints, yes, but local poll officials say yesterday’s election was peaceful, without any election-related violence reported.
Among the complaints was the lack of accessibility for seniors and PWDs, some of whom struggled to walk or be carried to the upper floors of a voting center.
Alleged delisting of voters, difficulty in finding the names and precincts, and lack of access for persons with disabilities (PWD) and the elderly were the common complaints during yesterday’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Despite the complaints, lawyer Veronico Petalcorin, acting regional director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 7, said that yesterday’s election was “generally peaceful.”
“The voting process was successful because it was not interrupted. This applies to the entire Central Visayas. There was no reported election-related incident, even in the watch list areas. Voting also started on time,” he said.
Several voters in Cebu City and some towns spent more time looking for their names and precincts than they did casting their votes, a problem that the Comelec had anticipated.
Cebu City North District Election Officer Gallardo Escobar said there were concerns on missing names and confusion on the voting precincts, but these were addressed immediately by district election supervisors.
Art Cabigas of Barangay South Poblacion in San Fernando town said it took him more than an hour to find his precinct.
The same problem was encountered at the Panadtaran Elementary School in Barangay Panadtaran in the same town.
Some voters complained that while they were early in the polling precinct to cast their vote, they did not finish quickly since they spent more time looking for their precinct than voting.
In Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City, 61-year-old Felix Potot wasn’t able to vote because his name was not on the list.
He said he was an active voter and only failed to vote once.
Potot sought the help of the election officer regarding his concern but he was advised to register again.
Some candidates complained that their names were not on the master list of candidates.
Gabriel Bonjoc, a candidate for barangay captain in Poblacion, Talisay City, complained that two of his councilors were not on the master list of candidates in two clustered precincts in the Talisay City Central School.
In a separate interview, Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said they expected that some voters would have difficulty in finding their names amd precincts since they lowered the number of precincts in a clustered precinct from six in the last national elections to two for yesterday’s election.
Some PWDs and senior citizens also felt they were disenfranchised.
Joebert Rosalejos, a voter from Barangay Tejero, said he opted not to bring his mother, a PWD, to the voting center because her precinct was on the third floor.
“Comelec did not designate an accessible place for these people, especially the senior citizens. They need to go to third floor of the building just to cast their votes, and I think it’s not proper,” he told SunStar Cebu.
Lawyer Gallardo Escobar, Cebu City North District election officer, said they received an instruction from the regional director only in the afternoon to allow the electoral board to bring official ballots outside the polling place to have the PWDs and elderly voters cast their votes on the ground floor.