Power outage hits Camp Aguinaldo during absentee voting

MANILA, Philippines - A power interruption hit Camp Aguinaldo yesterday, disrupting the activities at several Armed Forces of the Philippines offices but not the absentee voting at the AFP grandstand. 

A power transformer broke down just before 2 p.m., cutting off electricity to the AFP public affairs office, the Women’s Auxiliary Corps and the press room of the Defense Press Corps. Power was restored about an hour later.

AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said the power outage did not jeopardize the conduct of the absentee voting.

“The absentee voting in Camp Aguinaldo and other camps nationwide will not be affected by any power interruption since it is manual and does not require sophisticated electronic equipment,” Burgos said.

“In any event of power failure, the absentee voting will continue and will remain unaffected,” he added. The absentee voting in the military’s main headquarters started at 9 a.m. yesterday and ended at 4 p.m.

There were 133 registered absentee voters, 95 of them assigned at the General Headquarters and Headquarters Support Command and 38 of them from the AFP Service Support Units. As of 1:30 p.m. yesterday, 75 were able to exercise their right of suffrage. 

Col. Rosendo Borja, the Army’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel, served as the officer-in-charge of the voting, which was supervised by Russel Teodoro of the Commission on Elections.