SECURITY FORCES. Personnel from the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police ensure the peaceful conduct of elections in Bangued, Abra on Monday (May 9, 2022). They were also utilized as augmentation at the municipality of Pilar following reports of harassments of voters. (PNA photo by Liza Agoot)
BANGUED, Abra – With the exception of minor poll-related hitches, elections in the Cordillera Administrative Region generally went smoothly, a police official said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Police Regional Office in the Cordillera (PROCor) director Brig. Gen. Ronald Oliver Lee said no major election-related case was recorded in the region, "making it a peaceful and orderly election day.”
“With the combined efforts of the PNP (Philippine National Police), other government forces, and the community, the conduct of the election in all precincts in the region went smoothly," he added.
PROCor information officer Capt. Marnie Abellanida, in a phone interview on Tuesday, also said the elections were generally peaceful in CAR.
“We did not record major incidents that affected the election since the start of voting so I can safely say that the result of the election is good,” he said.
He said the PNP continues to monitor the situation, especially with some of the municipal and provincial canvassing still ongoing.
He encouraged individuals who feel that their rights have been violated during the conduct of the election to report their concerns to the proper authorities.
In Lagangilang, Abra, police arrested Marco Tizon Cagaid and Reymundo Baruela Almeda after they yielded Gloc cal.40 firearm and a cal.45 pistol, respectively.
The two are charged with the violation of the election gun ban.
They were identified as supporters of Lagangilang mayoral bet Antonio Viernes, who lost to incumbent Mayor and reelectionist Ruby Constantino.
Despite the incidents, Ricardo Lampac, provincial election officer of Abra, said the elections were peaceful and orderly despite "some isolated cases reported.”
He added that the situation in Pilar town, which was placed under Comelec control days before the elections, was managed properly by government security forces.
He said there were some glitches in the operation of the vote counting machines (VCMs) with their scanners unable to read the official ballots.
“We continued with the casting of votes and only fed the ballots after receiving the replacement VCM machines. There was no disruption of the voting process due to the VCM glitches,” Lampac said. (PNA)
