By YANG AMING
Podcast By BABYLYN KANO-OMAR
BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi — Ten of the 11 island municipalities here appear set for the presidential elections Monday, save for Mapun, where vote-counting machines (VCMs) are yet to be tested.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday tested 81 machines in the capital Bongao, and found only one did not print receipts.
It will be replaced with another VCM, from the three VCMs on reserve, said Bongao Comelec officer Bessie Salasa.
Voting machines in Panglima Sugala, Simunul, Sitangkai, South Ubian, Tandubas, Languyan, Turtle Islands, Sapa-Sapa, and Sibutu were reported 100 percent functional, said Comelec provincial officer Nasib Yasin.
VCM testing and sealing in Mapun will be done today, after the vessel that was supposed to deliver them yesterday experienced malfunction.
The vessel was rescued by other boats and brought back to Bongao for repairs, and was only able to deliver the voting machines by late afternoon.
Mapun, a fourth-class municipality with 15,250 registered voters, lies between Southern Palawan and the southern edge of the Zamboanga peninsula.
It is closer to the Malaysian city of Sandakan than the rest of Tawi-Tawi.
Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost province of the Philippines, has 183,879 registered voters. A quarter of the voters are in Bongao, the capital.
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