By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Today's early morning crowd inside Bayanihan Centre (from Congen Raly Tejada's FB post) |
Despite being
hampered by some glitches, overseas voting for the 2022 presidential election
in the Philippines was generally smooth today at the Bayanihan Centre in
Kennedy Town.
According to
Consul General Raly Tejada, the day’s turnout was about 2,600 – which was half
of Sunday’s tally, but still sizeable considering that Easter Monday is a general,
and not a statutory holiday, when foreign domestic workers are entitled to take
the day off.
Overall, a rough
estimate of the cumulative total from nine days of overseas voting is now nearly
24,000. No exact figure could be drawn because the Commission on Elections has
prohibited overseas posts from supplying actual daily tally to the public.
Photos shared by
Congen Tejada on his Facebook account showed a queue had formed outside
Bayanihan at about 9:45am, although he said it was short and there was a steady
stream of voters arriving at the polling venue.
Some of the day’s
voters posted on Facebook that voting went on smoothly, with each of them
spending only an average of 30 minutes to queue up and cast their ballots.
But two
precincts on the sixth floor remained closed today, after their vote-counting
machines broke down yesterday.
One voter said
those assigned to the two precincts had to be diverted to others on the lower
floors so they could cast their ballots. But one poll watcher said the machine
had started acting up as early as Friday.
Acknowledging
the machine breakdown, Congen Tejada said yesterday that they were being fixed,
and that the Commission on Elections in the Philippines had assured him that
new machines will be sent to Hong Kong by tomorrow, Wednesday.
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| Having all 10 precincts open could greatly reduce the waiting time of voters (CG Tejada's photo) |
It was only a
week ago that the Comelec allowed the Consulate to restore Hong Kong’s 10
precincts after reducing them earlier to just five.
As a result, thousands
of voters had to be turned away on the first day of voting on Apr 10 after
police were spooked by the throng that descended on Bayanihan, hoping to be
among the first to cast their ballots.
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Poll watchers also reported some odd events that happened during the day, like when a ballot that bore a serial number different from those assigned to the cluster it came from was repeatedly rejected by the VCM.
“Nahalo daw,” (It had been mixed in) said
the watcher, referring to the explanation given by the special board of
election inspectors (SBEIs) at the precinct.
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But the board
members took note of the problem and asked the poll watchers to witness them
canceling the spoiled ballot and issuing a new one to the voter.
The VCM also
rejected some ballots initially, but all got through eventually.
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| The queue outside Bayanihan at about 9:45am |
Other than this,
the poll watchers said they managed to report voters who were taking selfies
inside the precincts, or wearing shirts that bore the names or logos of their
preferred candidate.
Poll officers
have repeatedly advised people not to go to Bayanihan displaying campaign materials
or wearing shirts that identify their chosen candidates. But they can vote in
whatever color of clothing they prefer.
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One voter caused
a commotion in one of the precincts on the fifth floor after he angrily
proclaimed that the receipt he got after he cast his ballot did not accurately
reflect his votes.
The voter
claimed his receipt showed he did not vote for a vice-president and party-list
and chose only six senators, when he supposedly chose a complete set of
candidates.
But when the
SBEI chair asked the voter if he wanted to file a complaint he said no. He also
could not answer immediately whose names were not shown on his ballot receipt,
so the observer said it looked like the voter was just trying to create a
scene.
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Another complaint
pertained to an elderly Filipina who loudly proclaimed to everyone on the bus she
took going home from Bayanihan that she was a volunteer but was a rabid
supporter of a presidential candidate.
Throughout the
bus journey, she narrated events that supposedly happened inside Bayanihan,
like when a vote supposedly cast in her candidate’s favor was not reflected in
the ballot receipt, suggesting that cheating was going on. Despite this, she predicted
a landslide win for her candidate.
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Consul Bob
Quintin, who heads the electoral process in Hong Kong, has promised to look
into the complaint and take action if necessary.
