BACOLOD CITY — Poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) considered the conduct of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in this city on Monday as “generally peaceful.”
Teodora Cabilso, PPCRV coordinator of the Diocese of Bacolod, said that based on her experience in Barangay Taculing, the voting was smooth and orderly, adding that members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) are efficient and alert.
PPCRV, a national parish-based political, but non-partisan organization, is one of the two organizations tapped by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as its citizens’ arm in the conduct of honest, orderly, peaceful elections.
Cabilso said that through the Voters’ Assistance Desks, volunteers of PPCRV helped voters locate their names and polling precincts, based on the copies of the official voters’ lists provided by the Comelec.
Those who were not included in the book of voters were not allowed to vote and their complaints were referred to the Comelec, she added.
Cabilso said that compared to the previous elections, they received lesser complaints on “missing” names of registered voters.
She noted that the presence of PPCRV volunteers is really helpful in facilitating the smooth conduct of elections, but they were unable to cover all the 61 barangays in Bacolod because they did not have enough volunteers.
They were able to tap almost 1,000 volunteers, including those in some areas outside this city also covered by the Diocese of Bacolod, she said.
Cabilso said they also received reports of vote-buying but these were undocumented.
“That is why voting-buying is really tricky,” but it is not only the PPCRV or the police which can arrest those engaged in vote-buying since a citizen’s arrest is also allowed,” she said.
If the incident can be documented with the use of cellular phone for instance, one can file a complaint before the Comelec, she added.
Bacolod has 386,403 registered voters, including 294,854 regular voters and 91,549 SK voters. (PNA)
