765 vote in local absentee voting

CEBU, Philippines - A total of 765 government officials and employees as well as members of the military and police from Central Visayas took part in yesterday‘s local absentee voting in Sibonga town.

     Police Regional Office- 7 director Chief Supt. Lani-O Nerez said the absentee voting, which started with a Mass, went as planned although he noted few glitches like misspelled names on the voter’s list.

There were 240 voters, of whom 24 came from Bohol. In the afternoon, the absentee voting was held at PRO-7.

Nerez said that like the overseas absentee voters, local absentee voters were allowed to vote for national positions only – president, vice president, senators and partylist organizations – using traditional manual elections.

Some police personnel who had cast their votes, Nerez said, will be deployed in Bohol today.

He said they can vouch for the security of the ballots cast during the voting.

After the voting, ballots will be sent to the Commission on Elections main office in Manila where they will be kept until election day.

The ballots, together with the results of the automated polls, will be counted and canvassed by special board of election inspectors on May 10.

At least one election officer has been present during the local absentee voting and watchers from interested parties were also allowed to witness.

As part of security plans, the election officers are required to immediately deliver the ballots cast to the Comelec office every day until the voting period for special election ends.

Comelec guidelines said those participating in the local absentee voting are allowed to vote from April 28 to 30. Overseas absentee voting began on April 10 and will end on May 10.

A total of 50,723,734 Filipinos in the country are qualified to vote while 589,830 Filipinos abroad are expected to participate in the overseas absentee voting using the automated election system.   (BANATNEWS)