NO POLL-RELATED VIOLENCE

LINGAYEN—The May 14 elections in Pangasinan were “generally peaceful and orderly with no violent incident reported”, according to P/Chief Inspector Norman Florentino, public information officer of the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office.

In Dagupan City, the local office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) described the elections for barangay and sangguniang kabataan officials in the city as “generally peaceful”.

Florentino noted that the only tension recorded in the province was an incident involving a former vice mayor of Calasiao who entered three polling precincts at 9 a.m. on election day and threatened members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI).

According to Florentino, reports indicated that former Calasiao Vice Mayor Roy Macanlalay, also a former three-term mayor of the town, allegedly disrupted the election by entering polling precincts 44B, 45A and 46A located at the Bued Elementary School.

While in the polling area, Macanlalay reportedly accused members of the BEI of allegedly sabotaging the election but did not elaborate his charge.

Members of the BEIs in the polling places denied Macanlalay’s accusation.

Florentino said Macanlalay reportedly left the place after he was pacified by policemen deployed to keep watch on Barangay Bued.

Macanlalay is the father of Allan Roy Macanlalay, the incumbent barangay chairman of Bued running for reelection. The younger Macanlalay was up against his lone challenger Carlito Dion, who staged a successful comeback as barangay kapitan of Bued.

Because of the intense political rivalry between the younger Macanlalay and Dion, Barangay Bued was declared one of the five election watch list areas (EWAS) by the police.

Security was tight in Bued during the election as well as in four other EWAS in Pangasinan: Poblacion and Dalanguiring in Urbiztondo, San Roque in San Manuel, and Bemmekkeg in Sison.

Additional policemen and contingents from the Philippine Army were deployed to these barangays.

A few days before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, two armed men from Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac, were arrested in Barangay San Vicente in Calasiao while allegedly waiting for a candidate who they claimed asked them to provide security.

Another reported tension-filled incident was the arrest of an alleged vote-buyer in Tayug who was reportedly distributing P300 each in return for support for a candidate for barangay chairman.

Reports of vote-buying in many places were received by the Pangasinan Police but no one filed a single formal complaint.

Florentino said there were also a number of people arrested in Urdaneta City for violation of the liquor ban. (Leonardo Micua)

 

Elections in Dagupan peaceful

IN Dagupan, the city elections officer, Ericson Oganiza, said: “We had a generally peaceful election. Though there were some misunderstandings during the process, but our police officers who were in the area quickly resolved the problem.”

Oganiza said the most common complaint was the claim of missing names in the list of voters posted in electoral precincts, adding that the complaints are not unusual to the Comelec.

There were candidates who lost and became emotional and were advised to file a formal election protest or initiate a petition before the poll body to seek correction of errors if any.

Oganiza also reminded candidates, winners or losers to remove their election campaign materials posted in public areas since the elections are already over.

Meanwhile, elected Sangguniang Kabataan officials are mandated to attend the Mandatory Training Program to be facilitated by the Department of Interior and Local Government before they can assume office. (Maria Angeline Padua, CdD)

 

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