PPCRV: Generally peaceful, honest elections

MANILA, Philippines — The conduct of the midterm elections yesterday was generally honest and peaceful, according to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting.

PPCRV media director Agnes Gervacio said there was “nothing alarming” in the conduct of the polls in terms of incidence of violence and vote buying, based on reports gathered from their volunteers on the ground.

Gervacio said they have not received reports of election-related violence or vote buying during the conduct of the elections as of 3 p.m. or three hours before the polling precincts closed.

“The election is peaceful. There’s nothing alarming in reports we received from the ground,” Gervacio told reporters at the PPCRV command center in Manila.

Gervacio said the report that cases of vote buying increased in this elections could be attributed to the intensified monitoring and crackdown against poll offenders.

“This is the first time that we have a real crackdown on vote buying. This is also something we tried to address through voters’ education,” she said.

Gervacio said most of the reports they received from the field as of noon yesterday were cases of malfunction of vote counting machines (VCMs) in precincts and missing names of voters.

Meanwhile, another poll watchdog Kontra Daya said a majority of reports they received were also about vote buying and defective VCMs.

Danilo Arao, Kontra Daya convenor, said the failure of VCMs manifested inefficiency in the country’s voting system.

“Every delay that happens due to these failures and errors, no matter how short, will produce a cascading effect that will prolong the waiting time for today’s voters and may even lead them not being able to vote until the cut-off time,” Arao said.

Kontra Daya’s ground volunteers have monitored at least 39 cases of VCM malfunction nationwide.

Other alarming reports the group received include illegal campaigning, harassment, inconsistent vote receipts, delayed voting, voter disenfranchisement, flying voters and non-printing of receipt.

At the same time, it received several allegations of vote buying in Quezon City, La Union, Bataan, Imus, Camarines Norte, Negros Occidental, Aklan, Leyte, Samar, Agusan del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. Amounts reportedly range from P200 to P4,500. – Rhodina Villanueva