By TESSA JAMANDRE
TARLAC CITY.–Precinct 175-A of the Central Azucarrera de Tarlac Elementary School was all set and ready to receive its most important voter in tomorrow’s election until members of the media appeared and inspected the place.
School officials acting as Comelec board of election inspectors said they would not allow media inside the polling place when Sen. Noynoy Aquino casts his vote tomorrow.
The media appealed the rules of conduct and access as provided for in the media accreditation that “at least 3 media represenatives shall be allowed inside the polling place at any one time.” The BEI’s would have wanted media to take their videos and photos from the windows, but the media appealed that such a historic photo and video for the world to see should be cleared of any obstruction such as window grills that will block the view of camera lenses.
The BEI, after deliberating on the matter, decided on a compromise: to remove the window grills.
In turn the media pitched in some cash and offered to pay for the work in removing and reinstalling the windows, thus fixing the last minute problem that comes with covering this election’s leading presidential candidate.