MANILA: Philippine officials admitted that the three G’s – guns, goons and gold – which were familiar features in past electoral exercises were again at work when about 54 million qualified Filipinos led by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino went to their polling precincts on Monday for the “barangay” (village) polls.
Lawyer Sixto Brilliantes, the head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said they received reports of violence, vote-buying and ballot snatching from their field offices as well as those from the Philippine National Police (PNP) which has been deputised to help ensure the conduct of free, clean and honest village polls.
Senior Superintendent Reuben Theodor Sindac, the PNP spokesman, also disclosed that up to the eve of Election Day on Sunday, a total of 30 election-related violent incidents involving mostly guns were reported, killing a total of 22 people including three village captains, eight councilmen and 11 civilians.
But on the whole, the Monday voting was “generally peaceful” compared to the village election conducted in 2010 which coincided with the presidential polls, according to Sindac,
Brilliantes agreed with Sindac’s assessment, describing the reported cases of violence, vote-buying and ballot snatching as “isolated” as he pointed out, “There are, of course, incidents but there are no major problems as to adversely affect the voting as a whole.” However, former ambassador Henrietta de Villa, the head of the Catholic Church-backed Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting believed the village election this year has become partisan and more violent.
“Violence has really escalated. Vote-buying, too, and sadly even vote-selling,” De Villa said.
Meanwhile, Malacanang Palace said President Aquino, accompanied by his sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz motored to the capital city of Tarlac in his home province of Tarlac in Central Luzon to vote.
TV feeds showed Aquino and his sister voting at 11am on Monday inside their polling precinct located in a public school building for their village officials in Tarlac City.
Earlier, Brilliantes appealed to voters to come prepared and cast their ballots early because the voting was manual unlike the use of automated machines in the May 13 midterm polls five months ago.
Based on initial reports, Brilliantes said there was a large turnout of voters nationwide when the polling precincts opened at 7am and ended voting at 3pm with no extension despite petitions filed by concerned groups and individuals before the Comelec.
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