SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Policemen on poll duties will have to secure the vote counting machines until these are returned to the warehouses, an official of the Antique Provincial Police Office (APPO) said on Monday.
“We assure that the police will be securing the polling precincts until it closes,” APPO information officer John Mark Gonzaga said in an interview.
Gonzaga said 75 percent of the registered voters were able to cast their votes as of noontime but the police would have to secure the VCMs until the last voter at 7 p.m. and until the machines are returned to the warehouses.
The APPO added that they did not monitor any election-related incident during the voting.
The APPO has deployed 900 police personnel to the 18 municipalities of the province. They were supported by more than 700 police augmentation forces sent by the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas).
Meanwhile, Laua-an mayoral candidate Aser Baladjay said their town, although considered as one of the six areas of immediate concern due to an intense political rivalry, was peaceful on Election Day.
“Prior days, there were reported intimidations but then the police and Army had secured today’s Election Day,” he said.
Chief of the Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Antique School Governance and Operations Evelyn Remo said minor glitches at the beginning of the voting when several vote counting machines (VCMs) failed to function well, were fixed.
Sibalom South District Supervisor Demar Cahilig said in a separate interview the DepEd-created provincial task force headed by Remo was also quick to respond to their inquiries posted in their group chat.
About 3,020 teachers and 562 non-teaching staff served as Board of Election Inspectors and support staff in the national and local elections. (PNA)