Arquillano brothers lead in San Francisco poll race

CEBU, Philippines — The Arquillano brothers are leading in the race for the two highest positions in San Francisco town based on the partial results as of last night, according to a local official from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Benedicto Santiago, acting election officer of Comelec in San Francisco, said that as of 8:10 p.m. Monday, mayoralty candidate and reelectionist Alfredo “Al” Arquillano Jr. got 6,752 votes while his opponent, Hector “Otoy” Capao, got 4,562 votes or a difference of 2,190.

His elder brother and running mate Aly Arquillano garnered 6,737 votes while his opponent, Aproniano “Proni” Obenza, got 4,081 votes or a difference of 2,656.

The Arquillano brothers are running under Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud).

Santiago underscored that these figures are yet partial results.

He said at about 8 p.m. last night, at least three from the 15 barangays in San Francisco have transmitted fully their results.

He added that at least five barangays yet had red marks, meaning they have not yet started transmitting the results.

The rest of the barangays are still on the process of transmitting the results.

Santiago said the delay of the results may be attributed to the vote counting machines that bogged down or malfunctioned during its use.

As of Monday evening, Comelec in San Francisco office still continues to receive the results from the different precincts.

Last month, the Arquillano brothers were arrested following a raid on their ancestral house in San Francisco town, Camotes Islands that yielded several firearms, including caliber .22 rifle, AR-15 rifle, caliber .45 pistol, some ammunition, and a hand grenade.

After spending nearly a month in jail, they were released after they were allowed to post bail for the charges they are facing.

The court allowed the brothers to post a total bail of P750,000 for the cases of alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives against them. — MBG (FREEMAN)