DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, May 9 (PIA) -- The conduct of the elections in Negros Oriental has been generally peaceful so far, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) here. 

As of this writing, no untoward incidents that could mar the elections have been reported to PNP and the Philippine Army (PA). 

“So far, wala tayong nare-receive na report na yung hinarangan na hindi makakaboto. Para sa amin generally peaceful. Nagbunga pod ang series of coordination, mga plano. So karon puro implementation sa plans. So far okay ang resulta (So far, we haven’t received any reports about intimidation preventing a person to cast their vote. For us, it was generally peaceful. We can now see the result of a series of coordination and planning),” said PNP Provincial Director PCol. Germano Mallari in an interview. 

Commander of the 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army BGen. Leonardo Peña said they have not monitored any movement from Communist-Terrorist-Groups (CTGs) on election day. 

The coordinated efforts between the PNP and the PA have prevented movement from any private armed groups and CTGs in the province. 

Both officials also believe that the continued information drive about the PNP and PA’s commitment to provide security throughout the election period and the non-declaration of Areas of Concern (AOC) in the province have boosted the people’s sense of safety which also helped persuade them to go out and vote. 

“Malaki ang naitulong niya. Hindi mo naman kailangan mag-declare ka pa ng parang magulo ang isang lugar. Kailangan lang maging visible ang ating security forces which yun yung ginawa namin for the past two days until the end of the election period (It helped a lot. You don’t have to declare that a situation in an area is serious. What’s important is the visibility of security forces and that is what we have been doing for the past two days until the end of the election period),” Peña said. 

Peña noted that government security forces have been visible in urban and rural areas in the province. 

The Diocesan Electoral Board (DEB) of the Diocese of Dumaguete, the accredited citizen’s watchdog arm for the elections in the city and in the province, also echoed the same observation. 

However, issues on malfunctioning VCMs were noted by its volunteers on the ground. 

Some of the VCM issues were reported to the DEB Command Center at the Marian Priests Center include problems on the scanner, rejected ballots,  paper jam, and misreading ballots. 

DEB Executive Director Fred Magallano said that despite these, the conduct of elections was smooth, as he noted that 95% of VCMs were fully functioning. 

DEB also received reports about poll watchers of certain candidates wearing political or campaign shirts while performing their duties. 

Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano of the Commission on Elections earlier said that wearing of political shirts can be considered as campaigning on Election Day. 

Castillano said those found guilty of this can be charged in violation of the Omnibus Election Code and Fair Elections Act.  (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)