LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Attorney Julius D. Torres, Regional Director of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC-CAR), elaborated on the successful aspects of the recent Local and National Elections in the region’s Police Regional Office (PRO-CAR) on May 28.
Torres reported that all precincts across the region were able to conduct the elections without major disruptions. Ifugao was the first province to finish transmitting their election results to the National Board of Canvassers and Apayao as the last, having encountered very minimal problems.
“Nagkaroon tayo ng issues on transmission,” Torres said. “Kung titignan natin, nagkaroon tayo ng mga Starlink devices. For some reason, nahihirapan pa rin na mag-transmit yung ibang precincts.” He explained that despite the use of Starlink technology, some precincts still struggled with signal challenges.
This was confirmed by the report of Police Colonel Gilbert Fati-ig of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who attributed the problems with transmission signals to geographical location and foggy weather conditions. This resulted in the mobilization of authorized personnel to physically transport Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) from the polling precincts to canvassing centers for manual transmission and uploading of election results.
Reports on damaged or broken machines were minimal and addressed with standby contingency machines placed in municipal halls across the region.
Despite these setbacks, the use of automated counting significantly accelerated the election process. By May 13, most winning candidates have already been proclaimed.
Aside from the PNP, Torres recognized the support of the Department of Education (DepEd). “For this election, walang nag-back out the day of election, hindi kagaya ng previous na talagang umayaw yung ibang teachers…” said DepEd-CAR Regional Director Estela Leon-Cariño, stating the improved commitment of teachers in this year’s elections.
Cariño added that the teachers are ready for the next election. Police Brigadier General David Peredo, Jr., PRO-CAR Regional Director, mentioned that they now have an available template to follow for the next, given the results of recently concluded National and Local Elections. With this, the barangay elections are set to take place in December. By Aiyra Marzan
