By LEYTE-SAMAR DAILY EXPRESS
TACLOBAN CITY.—The Commission on Elections in Eastern Visayas wants special elections held in at least five villages in Samar province where teachers failed to report for poll duty on May 10.
The barangays that failed to hold elections are Carolina and San Roque in Matuguinao town, and Mabini, San Antonio and Himalandrog in Calbayog City. The precincts in these villages have a total of 1,812 voters.
Comelec director for Eastern Visayas Jose Nick Mendros said the teachers who were assigned to act as members of the Board of Election Inspectors did not report for duty for “security concerns.”
Mendros said, however, the Comelec central office in Manila has yet to act on the recommendation for the holding of special elections in these barangays.
“All local (winners) were already proclaimed. But we have to conduct special elections in these villages to determine the votes for national positions, to include candidates under the party list,” he said.
Despite problems in these barangays, Mendros described the conduct of the first automated elections in the region as successful and orderly.
“The canvassing was so fast and it was transparent,” he said.
He said local winners were proclaimed just hours after the close of the voting day.
Mendros gave credit to the Philippine National Police as well as the Philippine Army for their assistance during the May 10 elections.
The security measures put in place were a big help, the Comelec Region 8 director said.
Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, commanding general of the 8th Infantry Division, said the peaceful election could also be attributed to the cooperation of the candidates and the people as well.
“It was really a peaceful election. There was no untoward incident,” he said.
The PNP had earlier identified 54 areas in Eastern Visayas as places where election-related violence could erupt, and deployed more than 600 policemen as a deterrent.