BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Election yesterday declared the May 9 elections in Negros Occidental as “generally peaceful,” including the 19 towns and cities tagged as election areas of concern.
Provincial Comelec supervisor Atty. Roberto Salazar Jr. disclosed that they have not recorded of any violent incident related to the May 9 elections.
“We have not seen any grave issues in those 19 areas,” Salazar said.
But rampant vote buying activities were reported on social media, with amounts ranging from P200 to P2,500 for every voter.
As of Monday night, Salazar said such reports have not yet reached his office.
But he said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and National Police took proactive measures by deploying security personnel to pre-empt such illegal activities.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, reported last night there were no disruption of election activities in any areas of Negros Occidental.
Pasaporte also reported that there were no sightings of armed New People’s Army rebels, as they maximized deployment of Army soldiers in the hinterlands.
Prior to the May 9 elections, there were sporadic armed skirmishes between Army soldiers and suspected NPA rebels in central and southern Negros.
More than 3,000 Army and police personnel, including Civilian Active Auxilliaries, have been deployed in Negros Occidental, to secure the synchronized polls.
Compared to other areas in the country, PLt. Abegael Donasco, deputy provincial police office spokesperson, also reported that they have not recorded any major incidents which could affect the elections in the province.
Donasco added that everything went smoothly and the situation in Negros Occidental was generally peaceful.
As of 7 p.m. of May 9, the Provincial Election Monitoring Action Center reported the malfunction of 43 Vote Counting Machines (VCMs), with nine waiting for replacement while others are being repaired.
But Salazar said that they have contingency measures to address the malfunction of VCMs and SD cards.*
