Ferdinand Patinio/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday urged voters to report to the chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) in the polling centers poll-related problems, particularly rejected ballots.
“Make sure that the ballot is preserved by the Chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) and then we will have to study this situation very closely because we don’t want this to be a problem for the rest of the day,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press briefing.
This came after former Vice President and Makati congressional candidate Jejomar Binay, who went to the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) headquarters at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, to complain that his ballot was rejected eight times by the vote counting machine (VCM).
“(Based on) investigation or initial reports, he was not allowed to feed the ballot anymore after the eight tries that he was allowed. The ballot was rejected,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez later admitted that the problem was with the VCM.
“So the machine has been replaced. What we will do now is the rejected ballots will be (fed by batch) to the machine. So the ballot of (former) VP Binay will also be evaluated if it can be fed back again to the machine),” he explained.
Jimenez added that Binay has accepted the solution of the poll body.
“We will respond to the rest of the problem when we get there. For now, former VP Binay will return to Makati with Director Frances Arabe of the Education and Information Department to assist him in finding a way out of this problem,” he said.
For his part, the former government official expressed gratitude to the Comelec for listening to his complaint.
“I am grateful to the Comelec for attending to my concern and they will act on it so that my doubts will be allayed,” Binay said.
“I would lie if I said I am not mad. Think about it, my right will be gone. But because there are people like Mr. Jimenez, you can really report to them. The feeling is good. Thank you,” Binay added.
More than 61 million registered Filipino voters are expected to cast their votes today (Monday).
They will be choosing national and local candidates from senators to city/municipal councilors.
The voting period is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
