PNP: Central Luzon May polls generally peaceful

By Franco Regala

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga -- The Philippine National Police on Tuesday said there was “no failure of elections” anywhere in Central Luzon despite several hours of delay in voting in some barangays in the region.

“The mid-term elections is generally peaceful as the Comelec, police, and army managed to address all concerns to ensure peaceful and orderly elections,” according to Brig.General Joel Nopoleon M. Coronel, Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) director.

Election Day was met by reports of failure or malfunction of Vote Counting Machines (VCM), violence, and vote buying incident.

In Bulacan , VCM”s glitches were reported in 2 polling precincts in Balagtas and Marilao towns.

Glitches in VCMs were also reported in Mabalacat City and the towns of Lubao, Floridablanca, Porac, Minalin and Santo Tomas all in Pampanga.

Malfunctioning machines were also noted in some areas in the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

Technical people were sent to curb technical glitches while some machines were replaced with contingency VCMs.

The Comelec also received reports of vote buying in several areas in the region with each voter being offered amounts ranging from P500.00 to P1000.00.