BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
ELECTION WATCH / BREAKING NEWS
May 14, 2007 – 10:01pm

Voting was supposed to have ended at 3 p.m. today. But in the town of Biñan, Laguna (35 kms. south of Manila), voting began way beyond the deadline – in some precincts starting as late as 6:30 p.m.

The cause of delay was the replacement of teachers assigned to do poll duties in a number of precincts there, reports reaching Bulatlat reveal.

Earlier today, Bulatlat had received reports from the poll watchdog Halalang Marangal (Halal), which is led by retired Army Gen. Francisco Gudani, that as of 2:22 p.m. there was not a single ballot that had arrived at the polling precinct in Adelina III Complex, Biñan.

Bulatlat was referred by Halal to a Biñan resident who had reported the incident. The Biñan resident – who asked not to be named for security reasons – told Bulatlat in a phone interview that the teachers appointed to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in the precincts there had walked out upon discovering that there was another group, composed of non-teachers, set to perform the duties assigned to them.

“They trained for days only to find out they were to be replaced with other people,” the Biñan resident said.

The persons assigned to replace the teachers, however, did not report for duty. For several hours voting could not start as there was no one to even transport the ballots, the Biñan resident said.

“We have word from reliable sources that there are plans to rig the elections here,” the Biñan resident also said.

Biñan’s incumbent acting mayor is Bayani Arthur Alonte. His daughter Len-Len is running against Cookie Yatco – son-in-law of Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos – and two others.

The voting was able to finally push through at late afternoon today. In some precincts it began at 5:30 p.m., while it started as late as 6:30 p.m. in others.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), in an e-mail to Bulatlat, reported similar incidents in Caloocan City, Parañaque City, Taguig City, and Pateros – all in Metro Manila.

The Caloocan City mayoralty is being contested by incumbent mayor Enrico Echiverri, Reynaldo Malonzo, Macario Asistio, and Luis Asistio. Mayoral candidates in Parañaque City are incumbent Florencio Bernabe and Pablo Olivarez. Incumbent mayor Freddie Tinga and lawyer Mar Miranda are the mayoral contenders in Taguig City.

“This appears to be a technique of local officials who want to cheat: they replace the teachers assigned to do poll duties with their supporters,” ACT chairman Antonio Tinio told Bulatlat in an interview. (Bulatlat.com)

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