MALL VOTING. Residents of Barangay Pari-an in Cebu City cast their vote during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) inside the Robinsons Galleria on Monday (Oct. 30, 2023). In Cebu province, the pilot run for the mall voting was also held inside the SM Consolacion in the northern town of Consolacion, Cebu. (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Central Visayas on Monday encouraged netizens to formally file a complaint instead of posting on social media their video evidence of voting buying.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-7 regional director, admitted in a media briefing on updates of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) that his office received reports of incidents of vote buying in Cebu and Bohol.
“The advantage nowadays is that people can take videos which can be used to file charges. It’s better that they use the video to bolster their case against those who buy votes and against those who sell their votes,” Castillano said, urging them to execute affidavits rather than posting their videos on social media like Facebook and TikTok.
Also during the same press briefing, PNP Central Visayas Regional Office spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Gerard Ace Pelare, said they received nine incidents of vote buying and they are coordinating with election supervisors in filing charges against violators.
However, no formal complaint has been filed yet.
“Pieces of evidence are very important, especially the object evidence – the money– that the police could confiscate,” Pelare said, as he assured the public that the police are now knowledgeable in pursuing election cases through the guidance of election officers.
Mall voting went smoothly
Meanwhile, the election official in the region cited mall owners for lending spaces for the first mall voting in Cebu province.
Castillano said mall voting for the BSKE was held in Robinsons Galleria in Cebu City and SM Consolacion in the northern town of Consolacion.
Although there were minor hitches, including complaints about lost names and precincts, encountered, it was generally peaceful and orderly.
He said the success in holding mall voting in Cebu will be reported to the Comelec en banc and will serve as a basis for recommendation to hold the next political exercises in the malls.
The voting in malls officially opened at 7 a.m. alongside all polling precincts in all 116 municipalities and 16 cities covering 3,003 barangays in Central Visayas.
Although the conduct of the actual voting in the region was “generally peaceful”, Pelare said the police in the southern town of Dumanjug is investigating the alleged presence of armed men allegedly hired by a candidate for councilman in one of the villages.
“We assured the public that the PRO-7, the Comelec, AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) are committed to make sure we will have a safe, secured, free and fair BSKE,” Pelare said. (PNA)
