Rizal beats Aguinaldo in mock polls

MANILA, Philippines - Jose Rizal defeated Emilio Aguinaldo in the presidential polls, results of the mock elections held yesterday in several polling precincts in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao showed.

The mock polls were held to test the computerized machines that would be used in the May 10 national elections.

The Board of Canvassers at the main office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Intramuros, Manila reported that Rizal garnered 118 votes against Aguinaldo’s 108 votes during the mock elections held in nine precincts from 8 to 10 a.m.

Marcelo del Pilar, who got 76 votes, was declared as the elected vice president two hours after the mock polls closed.

The Aquinos dominated the senatorial elections by landing among the top three winning senatorial bets. Benigno Aquino with 214 votes topped the race, followed by Benigno Aquino Jr. with 208 votes, and Corazon Aquino with 193 votes.

The other winning senatorial candidates were Epifanio de los Santos, Robert Barbers, Pio del Pilar, Julian Felipe, Francisco Dagohoy, Regidor de la Rosa, Macario de Leon, Mariano Alvarez and Felipe Agoncillo.

The rock band Bamboo topped the party-list elections with 21 votes, followed by ManoMano and Apo Hiking who both got 19 votes and were tied for second place.

Mock polls almost perfect

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the mock elections were almost perfect except for several instances of “flying voters.”

“Everything was okay, with none of the jamming that we initially expected, so I would say it was almost perfect,” Melo said minutes after the two-hour mock elections ended.

The Comelec said votes from a total of nine precincts in selected areas in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao were successfully transmitted to the central server in Manila intended for the national Board of Canvassers.

“We expected a little jamming of the electronic transmission of the results in Quezon City and Taguig like we had during the previous field test, but there was none and we were able to transmit the results of the elections immediately,” Melo said.

Melo said the only hitches were some cases of flying voters in Maharlika, Taguig City.

Comelec National Capital Region (NCR) director Michael Dioneda clarified that the delay in the transmission of elections results from Taguig was actually due to lack of voters.

“Not all of the pre-selected 50 voters in the polling precinct in Maharlika came, so we just allowed other voters not registered in the precinct to participate,” Dioneda disclosed.

One voter was able to vote twice after the election officers failed to put indelible ink on the finger of the voter at Maharlika Village in Taguig.

Dioneda assured the public that such problems could be avoided with the presence of poll watchdogs during the official May elections.

In Quezon City, the election officer tried three times to transmit the results to one of the servers. It was later learned that the server had not been turned on.

Dioneda said the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine rejected, for still undetermined reasons, eight ballots from the polling precincts in Metro Manila.

“We are still evaluating why those ballots were rejected,” Dioneda said.

Cezar Flores, Smartmatic-Phils. spokesman, said the mock elections proved that the PCOS machines they have distributed nationwide are working well.

“Everything worked 100 percent as expected, so we can say the testing of the platform was a success but the same exercise also showed us how to fine-tune the procedure,” he said.

Three minutes after the elections ended at 10 a.m., all votes had been counted and the results transmitted to various servers. The winners were officially known two hours later.

Problems though were experienced at the Maharlika Elementary School in Taguig City yesterday.

Yasser Pangandaman, chairman of Barangay Maharlika, said there was confusion in the voters’ list posted in the door and those in the master list.

“Some names written in the list at the door were not in the master list when verified. I was expecting that I’ll be able to participate in this activity, but I did not find my name,” he said.

“The paper (ballot) jammed while it was being loaded in the machine. This again caused delay in the voting process,” he added.

Journalists vow to remain vigilant

Members of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) vowed to remain vigilant and impartial in the coverage of the May polls by signing a covenant in Cebu City last Thursday.

The one-page covenant, prepared by participants in the three-day workshop with the theme “Ready for the Elections,” was adopted by the PPI, the national association of newspapers.

The PPI also sought to be accredited by the Comelec in order to be given a copy of the election returns.

Meanwhile, opposition candidates in Lanao del Norte expressed apprehensions over the contingency plan of the Comelec to revert to the manual system if automation fails, which could result in massive cheating.

Comelec Commissioner Armand Velasco had said that at least 30 percent of the election results in the country may be manually counted amid reports that signal jammers may disrupt the electronic transmission of election results.

The opposition candidates sent a letter to the Comelec warning of multiple registrants, padded voters’ list, and ghost voters in Lanao del Norte. - With Rhodina Villanueva, Lino de la Cruz and Dino Balabo