Ballot snatching incidents reported in Samar and Basilan

Two incidents of ballot snatching were reported in Northern Samar and Basilan on Monday morning, but Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr said the conduct of the barangay elections is generally going smoothly.

Brillantes said a ballot box for two precincts in Brgy. San Antonio in Catubig, Northern Samar, was snatched from the Board of Election Teller around 12 midnight. At least two precincts are affected by the incident.

While at 7:15 in the morning, official ballot and other election paraphernalia for clustered precinct no. 20 was also reported to have been snatched. The precinct has 347 registered voters.

The poll chief said the elections in Barangay San Antonio will start around 12 noon with the use of improvised ballots.

“Sa Northern Samar naayos na namin, magsisimula ngayong 12 noon ang voting. Nag-i-improvise ballots na sila sabi nung regional director so tutuloy tuloy na sila. Gagawa sila ng balota, any paper pero iinitialan nila,” Brillantes said.

In Basilan, he said the local poll officials are still studying if they will be able to make improvised ballots to allow them to start voting Monday noon.

He said the voting in Calayan island, Cagayan province where the arrival of election paraphernalia was delayed due to bad weather will also start around noon.

“Sa Calayan island yung tumatawad nakatawd na daw yung iba. Mag-uumpisa na din ngayong hapon,” he said.

While the election parahernalias in Vinsons, Camarines Norte was yet to arrive, also due to bad weather in the area.

“Hindi nakatawid dahil masama ang panahon. Tinitignan pa kung makatatawid. Nahuli lang ng konti,” he said.

Ang contingency plan namin is pwde naman ituloy-tuloy yan hanggang bukas kung hindi matuloy ngayon. Pwede nila ituloy bukas ang election basta matawid lang ang paraphernalia,” he added.

He said if the voting will start around 12 noon, the voting period will be extended up to 8 in the evening.

Brillantes said that if the number of voters in the affected precinct in Basilan will not affect the result of the elections, the winning candidates can already be proclaimed.

“Kung malaki ang lamang nung winning candidate, pwedeng hindi na ituloy kasi it will not adversely affect yung results so hindi na kailangan mag-special elections,” he said.

Despite the incidents, Brillantes said the general assessment so far is the barangay election is running smoothly.

“So far, ang general assessment kokonti ang incidents. At this point, mukhang OK ang nangyayari,” he said. — Amita O. Legaspi /LBG, GMA News