The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City on Monday, October 30, were peaceful, except for some complaints of voters unable to find their precincts and of vote buying, Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said.
The BSKE in Western Visayas, which includes Negros Occidental, has been peaceful, Dennis Ausan, Commission on Elections (Comelec) regional director, also said.
He told DIGICAST NEGROS the Regional Monitoring Action Center at Camp Martin Delgado in Iloilo had not monitored any untoward incidents in the 172 election areas of concern in Western Visayas, including in the three under the red category located in Moises Padilla and Calatrava in Negros Occidental.
He said the common concerns were voters unable to find their names and precincts, but when they were assisted they were able to vote, Ausan said.
The online precinct finder was a big help, he said.
However, some were not able to vote because they had been deactivated for not voting during several elections, Ausan said.
He said so far they have forwarded 26 Kontra Bigay complaints in Western Visayas – seven from Aklan and 15 from Negros Occidental, to the Comelec Law Department.
Not all of the vote buying involved money, some involved the distribution of rice and in one case empty wallets, Ausan said.
Ananoria said on Monday he received complaints of vote buying in San Enrique, Silay City and Cadiz City.
There were Kontra Bigay complaints but when the complainants were asked to issue affidavits they did not return, Ananoria said.*