Maguindanao municipality first to transmit poll results - Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - A municipality in Maguindanao was the first to transmit its initial election results, according to the head of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) board of canvassers Monday afternoon. In an interview with GMANews.TV, lawyer Teopisto Elnas Jr, also acting ARMM election director, said the regional BOC convening in Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila received the result from the three precincts from Buluan at 3:38 pm. The voting period ended 3 p.m. Buluan has seven villages whose 11,177 registered voters were distributed to 91 precincts. It has nine voting centers. It was followed by Mamasapano municipality which transmitted the result of one of its 80 precincts at 3:40 p.m. Mamasapano has 12,139 registered voters in its 18 villages. It has 20 voting centers. A minute after Mamasapano, the result from three precincts of Pandag came in. Pandag has 39 precincts in its eight villages. It has 5,160 registered voters. Mamasapano and Pandag are also in Maguindanao. Maguindanao used DRE or Direct Recording Electronic by technology provider Smartmatic-Sahi Joint Venture. DRE uses touch-screen technology, wherein the voter would simply press the part of the screen containing the candidate's name. Smarmatic-Sahi is also tasked to handle the transmission and canvassing of votes in the whole ARMM. The other technology, Optical Mark Reader (OMR) of Avante International Technology Inc, was used in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi, OMR uses a ballot system. The ballot contains the candidates' names and the voter simply shades the space corresponding to the chosen candidate. Elnas said the automation made the canvassing easy for the BOC. "Mas madali na, wala nang manual counting (It was easier, there was no manual counting)," Elnas said. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV