Voters asked to be patient, to cast their votes

VOTERS who experienced difficulty in casting their ballots were asked to “be patient” and “not to be discouraged” by technical glitches, long lines or cramped, hot polling precincts.

Regional Director Jose Nick Mendros of the Commission on Elections (Comelec-7) said long lines are expected during the elections and voters should reconsider not casting their votes due to the inconvenience caused by these conditions.

“We are appealing to voters to exercise their right to vote. We are voting a president this time, so go out and vote,” he said in a press conference at the election media center at the Police Regional Office 7 in Cebu City Monday morning.

Mendros said even in the US, people have to stand in line to cast their votes. “There will be lines definitely. Even in the airport, there are lines. How much more during elections,” he said.

“Voters really just have to be patient. Can you just wait for your turn. Bring small chairs if you want to. If you see long lines in voting centers, don’t be discouraged right away,” Mendros added.

Mendros declined to give an estimate as to the number of people who already voted.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesperson of the Church-based Cebu Citizen’s Involvement and Maturation for People’s Empowerment and Liberation (C-Cimpel), echoed the appeal for voters not to be frustrated with long lines.

“We are doing something very sacred and very important. It requires sacrifice on our part. For citizens, let’s exercise patience, sacrifice and if I made add charity to each other,” he said.

Tan also advised people going to polling precincts not to make comments that can provoke other people.  “These will not help us arrive at having peaceful elections,” he said.

Tan said C-Cimpel, an accredited citizen’s arm of the Comelec, will collate all the election returns in Cebu and will send them to another Church-based poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in Manila.

“C-Cimpel will just collect the results from Cebu and send them to PPCRV. We won’t have parallel counting,” he said.

Chief Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr, regional director of the Police Regional Office 7, considered the first half of the election day in Central Visayas as “relatively peaceful.”

Past 9 p.m. Sunday, Dumanjug town councilor Ely Amadora was ambushed in Barangay Cogon by men on board two motorcycles. Amadora, who is seeking reelection under One Cebu Party, wasn’t hurt.

Marlon Ybanez, who drove a Toyota Revo passing along the same area, suffered a gunshot wound on his body during the incident. But Comendador said they couldn’t conclude that the incident was election-related.

“We are still validating and investigating the Dumanjug incident,” he said. Dumanjug is one of the eight localities in Cebu placed under the Election Watchlist by the Provincial joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council.

“We’re waiting until the elections is over before we could give our final assessment,” Comendador said.