Mt. Province, Kalinga facing poll transmission problems

BONTOC, Mountain Province – This province and adjacent Kalinga face problems in transmitting election results for the May 10 elections due to limited connectivity of telecommunications networks, malfunctioning automation machines and lack of poll materials.

In Mountain Province, the Commission on Elections admitted Wednesday telecommunications connectivity is still a major hindrance in speedy transmission of election results to municipal, provincial and national board of canvassers after poll results shall have been tallied in the precinct level.

Aside from the poor or no telecommunication signals in remote places in the province, the poll body is also reportedly encountering problems in the security of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines because of the reported insufficiency of police and military who were earlier deployed to the conflict-stricken province of Abra in order to ensure the conduct of a peaceful and orderly elections.

However, lawyer Ricardo Lampac, provincial election officer, said to augment the lack of police personnel, barangay volunteers were tapped by the poll body to secure the perimeter of the polling places where the PCOS machines will be kept during the transmission tests and the sealing of the machines.

To ensure data will be correctly transmitted to the recipient servers, the towns of Bontoc, Sagada, Bauko and Tadian will be using the universal serial bus (USB) to send and transmit election results in their respective areas from the municipal to the provincial canvassing areas as strong signals from mobile phone networks are being experienced by local residents.

On the other hand, very small aperture transmission (VSAT) will be used to transmit results in the towns of Paracelis and some parts of Bauko as it has been effectively and efficiently tested in these areas.

For remote areas like selected far flung communities of Bontoc, Tadian and Besao and the entire town of Barlig and Natonin, which up to now have no network signal, these areas will be exclusively using the broadband global area network (BGAN) which utilizes satellite transmission technology in transmitting the election results to the municipal and provincial board of canvassers.

Lampac admitted some areas are allegedly having difficulty in transmitting election results based on the earlier testing conducted. But in the end, the results get sent because of the persistence of machine operators who want all the data counted.

At present, the PCOS machines for the 10 towns of this landlocked province have already been dispatched to their respective destinations in preparation for the distribution to the assigned polling centers in time for the casting of votes on election day.

Meanwhile, K alinga is experiencing problems more on delay of deployment of election materials in the province.

The provincial capitol, which was expected to complete deployment of all materials on May 4, failed to distribute the needed items at press time to the different areas of Kalinga due to the fact that these materials have not yet arrived, except for the PICOS machines and ballot boxes.

The province was expecting to have all the materials secured in the different election sectors on May 5.

Lawyer Thomas L. Uyam, provincial election supervisor, said the delay can lead to bigger problems. “The province of Kalinga, especially the hard-to-reach areas, may ultimately face problems during the elections because of the delay. Failure of election may happen, if this situation will not be solved immediately.”

One of major issues concerning this matter is the difficulty in transporting the items to the different areas in Kalinga.

The areas include Taludan, Balbalan, Tinglayan and Lubuagan. The distance of these areas are far from the city where the materials are stored, and the delay might lead to a failure of elections.

Because of the province’s harsh terrain, the transportation of materials may take up to two or three days to deliver the items before the elections start on May 10.

The roads to these areas are not easy to travel, because of the geographic qualities of Kalinga.

Another factor was the weather. Despite the dry spell that hit the different parts of the Cordillera, strong rainfall were reported every now and then in Kalinga.

Upper Kalinga was also deemed dangerous because of the area’s features like occurrence of landslides which might contribute to even more problems.
In case of failure of elections, Uyam said special elections will be implemented in Kalinga. “We are trying to avoid this sceneario, but if this happen, we will conduct the special elections within this month.” – Dexter A. See and Reuben John Rivero