MATUNGAO, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews / 08 May) — A temporary detention cell made of lumber has been constructed in the middle of the school grounds to serve as holding area for any person who will disrupt the voting on Monday in Sultan Macalpang Permites Central Elementary School here.
The school is the biggest of three voting centers in the poblacion.
Mohammad Abdulrashid, Municipal Election Officer said “those individuals who will disrupt the election process will be apprehended by the police and military and will be detained there for safety purposes.”
Atty. Melber Alinas, Lanao del Norte’s Provincial Election Supervisor (PES) said the province is ready for Monday’s voting.
He said troops from the 4th and 5th Mechanized Battalion under the supervision of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army were already deployed to the respective areas to secure the voting centers and precincts in the 22 municipalities.
Government forces and the Provincial Election Office are closely watching the towns of Matungao, Munai, Magsaysay, Poona Piagapo and Salvador, considered as areas of concern due to intense political rivalry.
Brig. Gen. Rey Alemania, commadner of the of 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade visited the military units deployed in the different towns. .
Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commander of 103rd Infantry Brigade, warned flying voters from Iligan City not to pursue their plans to cross the border of Lanao del Sur and Marawi City to cast their vote on May 9.
“We will not hesitate to apprehend and file the appropriate case with the Comelec against the violators,” he said.
“Flying voters are the cause of trouble in voting centers,” he said.
Cuerpo said a checkpoint was set up at the boundary of Saguiaran town “to check the identities of persons entering Lanao del Sur and Marawi City.”
In Iligan City, Joel Dexter Nagtalon, City Election Officer, said all 263 vote counting machines have passed the final testing and sealing on May 6.
“Twenty-six VCMs with batteries and accessories with official ballots, Posted Computerized Voters’ List, and Election Day Computerized Voters’ List were already deployed to 12 hinterland barangays with 14 voting centers Sunday, escorted and secured by 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and Philippine National Police and they will be there until the election process will be concluded,” he said.
Nagtalon said some182,000 voters can vote in Iligan City while almost 3,000 were delisted due to death, double registration while others transferred to other places.
Nagtalon said on-call trained teachers are advised to standby in case some of the teachers who will serve the election cannot report due to illness and other unavoidable circumstances. (Richel V. Umel / MindaNews)
