Manila candidates turn elections into fiesta

MANILA, Philippines - Food and drinks provided by barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan candidates turned the electoral exercise at a school in Manila into a fiesta of sorts, a Manila Police District (MPD) official said yesterday.

At the Legarda Elementary School in Sampaloc, political rivals set up kiosks outside the school gates and their supporters invite those who have cast their ballots to have a drink or a bite to eat, MPD spokesman Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo said.

At the same school, there were complaints of candidates campaigning within the prohibited 50-meter radius of the polling precincts, police said. However, no trouble erupted since candidates considered themselves friends and neighbors.

Voters complained of ballpens, reportedly supplied by the Commission on Elections, that do not write.

At the Araullo High School in Ermita, a commotion occurred yesterday morning when a man was accused of being a flying voter. Police intervened and later found out that the man was indeed a voter in that precinct.

‘Fetus’ found

Inspector Cresencio Viray reported the discovery of a clot of blood, possibly a fetus, in one of the restrooms of the Araullo High School while voting was going on.

“We submitted the clot of blood wrapped in plastic to the MPD crime laboratory to determine if it was a fetus. One of the voters may have suffered a miscarriage and left the blood wrapped in plastic in one of the cubicles of the CR,” Viray said.