PNP: 302 nabbed for vote buying, selling

MANILA — More than 300 persons were nabbed for alleged vote buying activities during police operations in various parts of the country, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.

“As of 1 p.m. today (Monday), the PNP National Election Monitoring Action Center (NEMAC), has recorded a total of 120 incidents with 302 violators,” PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde told reporters in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

Meanwhile, a total of 43 incidents of election-related violence incidents were recorded, with 20 killed and 24 injured.

The PNP has also recorded 374 incidents of liquor ban violations where 920 have been apprehended.

“The opening hours of balloting in the country’s more than 36,830 voting centers turned out to be relatively peaceful and could very well describe the orderly outcome of Election Day until the closing of polling hours at 6 p.m.,” Albayalde said.

As of Monday noon, Albayalde said that only six voting precincts of the 36,831 polling precincts have not started the voting due to malfunction of Vote Counting Machines (VCMs), all located in Lanao del Sur.

Initially, there were 156 voting centers which did not start on time due to some malfunctions of VCMs and SD cards and absence of election boards.

But he said almost all of the glitches were later resolved.

For voting precincts where election boards did not show up, Albayalde said they were replaced by policemen who were earlier trained as election officers.

“A total of 1,501 PNP personnel nationwide acted as Election Boards following the absence of the teachers,” said Albayalde.

He said most of the areas where the teachers did not show up are in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Bicol Region and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).

“Aside from some confusion, administrative delay and queuing during the opening hours of the elections, there were no major untoward incidents that disrupted the holding of election proper,” Albayalde said.

Meanwhile, the PNP said based on initial investigation, the three blasts that rocked Cotabato City and Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao are not poll-related.

Albayalde said that all these incidents happened away from the polling places.

He added that on Monday morning they also received a report of a shooting incident outside a polling place in Panglima Estino, Sulu that resulted in the wounding of five civilians due to gunshots and the burning of two civilian vehicles.

He identified the wounded persons as Asiri Sadjaani, 65; Ibno Sahipa, 64; Barre Abih, 46; Omal Hasan, 57; and Nadzra Munib, 41.

“The situation is under control and investigation is ongoing to identify the suspects. Our present level of operational readiness and vigilance will be maintained until the election process is completed,” Albayalde stressed.

Albayalde, meanwhile, said the filing of disqualification cases against erring candidates is up to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.