NAMFREL notes violence, ACM issues during polls

The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) noted incidents of violence and issues with automated counting machines (ACMs) on Monday.

In Silay City, Negros Occidental, a shooting incident took place in front of the headquarters of a mayoralty candidate.

The incident reportedly involved six people, with bystanders and media reports alleging two or three fatalities.

Media reports claim that supporters of a former mayor perpetrated the incident, while the victims, who were brought to the nearest hospital, are supporters of the incumbent mayor. Authorities are conducting an investigation.

In Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, protesters gathered at the municipal hall to oppose the electoral boards assigned to their precincts, blocking the distribution of election materials and delaying the voting process.

The protesters were reportedly dissatisfied with the composition of the electoral boards, citing partiality.

This came after Datu Odin Sinsuat was placed under Commission on Elections (Comelec) control following the killing of the local election officer and her husband. In response to the unrest, 312 police officers were assigned to polling centers to ensure security.

Police personnel were designated as Special Electoral Board (SEB) members to replace the contested electoral board. This measure was taken to address concerns over impartiality and ensure the elections proceeded.

Further, NAMFREL also verified multiple incidents in Lanao del Sur:

• In Maguing town, an unknown male person reportedly from Pikit, Maguindanao, was killed after being suspected of vote buying. Police arrived in the area to investigate.

• In Bayang municipality, two persons were killed. The victims were identified as a candidate for councilor and the brother of a barangay chairman.

• In Marantao, a mob reportedly attacked six vans carrying flying voters, resulting in injuries and the vehicles getting damaged.

• In another barangay in Marantao, suspected flying voters got injured after being mobbed by a crowd. Police are investigating both incidents.

• In Sagonsongan, Marawi City, two watchers from opposing parties had an altercation, resulting in water being thrown at the ACM.

The poll watchdog said it is currently verifying other incidents reported by its chapters and will include them in forthcoming bulletins once confirmed.

ACM errors

Most of the reported incidents involving the ACMs were immediately resolved, according to NAMFREL. Some of these include:

• Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) paper jams

• Ballots not being accepted on the first try, but accepted on the second

• Ballots rejected due to unclean scanner

In one polling place in San Francisco Elementary School in Quezon City, an observer reported that an issue with the ACM took two hours to resolve. Voters were allowed to fill out their ballots and leave them with the Electoral Board (EB). A verbal altercation occurred when some voters cut in line.

Meamwhile, in Bongato East Elementary School, Bayambang, Pangasinan, several ballots were rejected due to creases. The EBs set the ballots aside for safekeeping and said that they would try to feed them into the machine again later.

At Sto. Niño Elementary School, Caloocan, an observer reported a 15-minute delay after the ACM labeled one ballot as “Misread Ballot.”

In Maligaya Elementary School, Quezon City, cleaning the scanner took eight minutes.

Also, in Robinsons Place Iloilo and Bagumbong Elementary School, Caloocan City, scanner wiping took 10 minutes.

And in Kapitolyo High School, Pasig, a ballot jam caused voting time to stretch to over an hour.

However, in one polling place in Taysan Elementary School, one ballot was rejected even after the scanner was cleaned. After three attempts, the ballot was placed in the container for rejected ballots.

A NAMFREL observer in Tanauan South Central School, Batangas, reported that a voter complained about the VVPAT showing an overvote for party-list. The voter filed a complaint and waited two hours but was told their party-list vote would not be counted.

Administrative issues

NAMFREL observers also reported some administrative issues in Monday's voting.

Ballot secrecy concerns continue to be observed by NAMFREL volunteers in many voting centers. Some of them are:

• EBs instead of the voters folding the VVPATs and depositing them in the VVPAT receptacle

• Ballot secrecy folders are not being used

• Voters could see other voters’ votes on the ballots

In Epifanio Delos Santos Elementary School, Quezon City, one voter was barred from voting due to being listed as a “double/multiple registrant” based on the AFIS result.

Meanwhile, at Epifanio Delos Santos Elementary School in Malate, Manila, a voter’s name appeared in two different precincts. It was stricken off one list, and the voter was allowed to cast their vote at the other location.

NAMFREL said it will continue to gather observations throughout the day.