Voters lined up as early as 6am outside the Carangcang Elementary School in Carangcang village in Magarao town, Camarines Sur province where presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo is also expected to cast her vote. - PDI
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): Voters encountered several issues—from power outages to faulty vote-counting machines (VCMs)—as the voting period for the 2022 national and local elections began Monday (May 9), but the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the polls will continue.
As soon as polling precincts opened, voters began sending reports on social media of faulty VCMs in their areas.
Comelec acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said their office has contingency measures in place for malfunctioning VCMs.
“As we have emphasised before, contingency number 1 is repair onsite. That’s the first thing that we will do. We have Comelec-designated,” Laudiangco said in a press briefing.
"If the technician cannot address it, we call the National Tech Support Center. Someone there will assist the technician to resolve it. If that cannot be resolved on time, get the contingency VCM. If we no longer have contingency VCM, we will have to go or repair
Elections shall continue in areas with malfunctioning VCMs, said Laudiangco.
Laudiangco said ballots will be collected and a batch feeding—with the monitoring of watchers and accredited citizens’ arm—will be conducted once a functioning VCM is made available.
“In the meantime, what will happen? Elections shall continue. It will not stop and people will be allowed to vote. But they will not be able to experience feeding the ballots to the machine but it does not mean it will not be counted,” Laudiangco said.
“When the functioning VCMs arrive, we will batch feed the ballots under the watch of watchers and the accredited citizens’ arm. So there is no reason to stop the polls even if there are issues with VCMs,” he added.
Aside from malfunctioning VCMs, an unstable power source is also hounding elections in Bukidnon.
Laudiangco said the Department of Energy (DOE) has vowed to address the issue.
“We will divert energy sources there. Knowing Comelec, we have Plan A, that’s Plan A. We have Plan B. We have the batteries. What we have Plan C? We also have generators,” Laudiangco said.
“So there is no cause for worry when it comes to the energy sector. We assure you that the elections will continue,” he added.
