THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday announced it has scrapped the special elections previously recommended in the towns of Butig and Bindayan in Lanao del Sur, even as it declared readiness to hold the special polls in 12 barangays in Tubaran in the same province.
Elections Commissioner George Garcia said the special elections in Butig and Bindayan have been cancelled after it became apparent that no failure of elections took place in the two towns.
“Apparently, there were proclamations made. We didn’t lower the threshold. Therefore, they were able to complete it,” said Garcia.
“We based it (failure of elections) in the initial report to us. We acted upon it quickly. It turns out there was no failure of elections,” he added.
Garcia said they have already directed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Regional Election Director Ray Sumalipao to come to Manila to explain the confusion.
“Director Sumalipao was asked to come to Manila after the special elections in Tubaran to clarify the issue (in Butig and Bindayan),” said Garcia.
In his memorandum, Sumalipao said failure of elections should be declared in the clustered precincts in Barangay Ragayan in the town of Butig after the official ballots were stolen and the military failed to retrieve them.
Sumalipao also said failure of elections should also be declared in clustered precincts in Barangay Pindolonan in Bindayan due to the presence of violence resulting to the damage of VCMs and official ballots.
On the other hand, Elections Deputy Director for Operations Teopisto Elnas said the poll body is fully prepared to hold the special elections in a total of 15 clustered precincts in Tubaran.
“All the preparations are in place. We are all systems go for tomorrow,” said Elnas in a press conference.
“Our expectations is there will be a high voter turnout as the Comelec can guarantee its peaceful conduct and there will be no threats. The voters will surely come,” he added.
Elnas noted that the special elections is necessary to complete the proclamation of some local officials.
“There is a necessity for the Comelec to conduct the special elections considering no municipal officials have been proclaimed there. As far as provincial candidates are concerned, they have proclaimed governor and congressmen, but not provincial board members for the 2nd district of the province of Lanao del Sur,” said the poll official.
Similarly, he stressed that the poll results are necessary for the party-list elections.
“The 6,921 registered voters have an effect in the results of the party-lists,” said Elnas.
Earlier, the Comelec declared failure of elections in several clustered precincts in 14 barangays scattered in the municipalities of Butig, Bindayan, and Tubaran in Lanao del Sur.
In a related development, acting Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said the poll body has asked service provider F2 Logistics to explain the circumstances surrounding the alleged disposal of poll paraphernalia in a vacant lot in Amadeo, Cavite.
Laudiangco said they have already asked F2 Logistics, which was tapped to transport all election equipment, supplies, and paraphernalia for the May 9 polls, to submit an explanation as to why there are poll paraphernalia found dumped in a vacant lot in Amadeo.
“The Packing ang Shipping Committee headed by Dir. (Theddeus) Hernan will fully investigate everything. In fact, he has issued a directive to F2 Logistics to account for everything,” said Laudiangco.
Hernan said they have already verbally communicated with F2 executives regarding the matter.
“We are saying that this matter will be exhaustively and comprehensively investigated.
They really need to explain to us the reasons why. There are things they would have to explain in their formal report to us,” said Hernan.
Over the weekend, reports came out regarding images of election paraphernalia found dumped in a vacant lot in Amadeo, Cavite.
The election paraphernalia, which were packed in a box used to deploy official ballots, bore the label that it come from the Jose Rizal Elementary School polling center in Tondo, Manila.
F2 Logistics bagged the P535,999,998 contract with Comelec to handle the deployment and the return of all election supplies, including the vote counting machines (VCM), used in the May 9 polls.
Under existing protocols, the election paraphernalia used in the May 9 polls should have been surrendered by the Electoral Board members to the local Election Officers (EOs).
On the other hand, the VCM units were slated to be brought back to the Comelec warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
Manila (3rd District) election officer Gregorio Bonifacio said it is possible that the personnel of F2 mistakenly picked up the poll paraphernalia when they retrieved the VCMs.
“When the VCMs were retrieved, the box was just a few meters away. Probably, they were instructed to retrieve everything. That’s probably why. I cannot explain why they were included,” said Bonifacio.
