Ties in some towns to be resolved by coin toss

Candidates in at least seven barangays in Cebu will have to toss a coin in order to determine who among them shall sit as village officials.

Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said the practice of tossing a coin to break a tie among candidates, will be done in the towns of Alcantara, Catmon, Tabogon, Malabuyoc, and San Fernando for the positions of Punong Barangay and Barangay Kagawad in these areas.

The poll body on Tuesday said it has yet to determine what particular barangays have to resort to a coin toss.

“Usually coin toss in cases of a tie is done just once. But the parties can agree to do it in a best-of-three, or a best-of-five,” said Castillano in an interview.

The chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), he said, shall do the coin toss.

“Under the general instruction, ties are resolved within five days by coin toss. But the candidates can agree to break the tie immediately,” Castillano said.

Of the1,203 barangays in Cebu, only 10 have yet to transmit the election results as of Tuesday.

“The elections in Cebu is 99.17 percent complete. There are no failure of elections here and we would like to thank our policemen and teachers for the successful conduct of the barangay and SK (Sangguniang Kabataan) elections. They are election heroes,” Castillano said.

He said he’s elated that no violent incidents happened in Tuburan town where six villages were declared “election hotspots” due to intense political rivalry and previous election-related violence.

“Our security preparations were effective and the candidates cooperated. They themselves wanted a peaceful conduct of the elections,” he said.
Castillano, however, apologized to the voters who were not able to quickly find their precincts.

“We clustered the precincts from 600 voters to just 400 plus there were no voters assistance desks due to the absence of the C-Cimpel,” he said.

The Chuch-based Cebu-Citizens Involvement and Maturation for Peoples Empowerment and Liberation or C-Cimpel are not active during barangay and SK elections because of lack of volunteers as many of them have relatives running for positions in their respective villages.

“It could have been a great help if C-Cimpel was around. They really give us a huge lift during elections,” Castillano said.

He appealed to candidates — winners and losers — to remove campaign posters and streamers placed on walls and other areas now that the polls are over.

“Let us show unity in the community whether you win or lose,” he said.