DAVAO CITY – The usual problems like missing names and defective voting counting machines continue to hound the 2022 elections.
In Davao de Oro, what contributed to the problem was the heavy downpour between Sunday night and Monday morning resulted in a landslide in Ngan, Compostela.
The incident also killed 58-year-old Ronelia Magnaos who was inside the house submerged in the landslide, said Allen Baco of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
On the reported vote-buying activities, Maj. Joy Lynn Abagon, Davao de Oro Provincial Police Office focal person, said no one has come out to formalize the complaint although there were reports online.
Abagon also said no violence was reported despite the intense political rivalries in the province.
Several areas in the region have so far reported malfunctioning vote-counting machines, said Commission on elections assistant regional director Gay Enumerables.
Enumerables said there were eight machines that were either replaced or repaired.
Provincial election officer Norliza Mamukid of Davao de Oro also reported that there were four other voting machines repaired in the province. “The glitches were immediately addressed,” Mamukid said.
Mamukid added that although she could not make projections in relation to voter turnout as they are prevented from doing so, “there seem to be more people who came out to vote.”
Jenielito Atillo, the spokesperson of the regional office of the Department of Education, confirmed that there were names not found in the list of voters. Atillo explained that in some cases, the names were just misspelled while others disappeared even though people insisted that they voted in the previous elections.
Atillo added that several polling places were transferred in some areas in Davao de Oro due to the floods.
As of 3:30 pm, the voter turnout still stood at 30%. In contrast, voter turnout during the 2016 elections was already 81% by that same time.
But Comelec chair Saidamen Pangarugan said that they can extend the voting hours as long as there are still voters in the vicinity of the polling precincts even after the official voting ends at seven in the evening. “So, we can extend the voting hours up to the time that we have accommodated everyone within that vicinity of the voting center,” he told PTV.
