Voters' registration marred with chaos in Ecija city

GAPAN CITY – The Nueva Ecija Police Provincial Office (NEPPO) has deployed seven policemen to maintain the peace and order at the vicinity of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office here over the weekend as registration of voters was stopped for almost two days after a brother of Mayor Ernesto Natividad allegedly offended an election officer.

Natividad said he has yeto talk with his brother, identified as Romeo Natividad, after the “unfortunate incident” but said it could have happened if only the Comelec officials acted on his complaint against the chief of the local election office, Belen Villasis De Vera.

In a complaint before the police, election officer II Herbert Santiago said he was attending to registrants at about 2p.m. Wednesday when Natividad with a gun tucked on waist confronted him and hurled invectives.

Accompanied by unnamed bodyguards, Natividad who is also called Miong or Master, allegedly told him: “namumuro ka na” He said the suspect then grabbed him by the neck and was about to punch him when restrained by his aides. Natividad then left the office.

Santiago said he was taken aback by the incident.

De Vera, on the other hand, considering the safety of his men decided to order the suspension of the registration and transported registration machines to the Comelec provincial office in Cabanatuan City .

The incident reportedly stemmed from a complaint from some registrants who found the process too strict for them. The registrants went to the mayor’s office for help prompting the mayor’s brother to rush to the Comelec office which is located at the 2^nd floor of the city hall.

The mayor’s office is at the ground floor.

“But there should never be bodily contact,” said De Vera, saying her office never played bias against any party. She said they have established requirements for registration and the same is observed for every registrant.

But the local chief executive said the Comelec, where relatives of Vice Mayor Christian Tinio employ, has been favoring the latter.

Tinio, son of former Vice Gov. Oscar Tinio, is reportedly eyeing the mayoralty post against Natividad’s wife in 2010.

Santiago said he has no reason to be biased.

KC launches poll automation info drive

CABANATUAN CITY - Saying voting electronically is an easy but delicate job, the Catholic-based organization Knights of Columbus is waving an all-out educational drive for voters.

Armando Galang, Grand Knight of the KofC Padre Crisostomo Council 6000 in this city, said Thursday that all councils of the Order are asked to conduct the campaign after information technology experts from its Manila office held a briefing among members in the countryside recently.

"It is the patriotic duty of every knight to help our voters know the voting process so that their rights will go to waste" Galang said.

Ronnie Infante, an IT expert, said that while automation will definitely make the exercise of the right to suffrage of every Filipino easier and fast, voters' education is in urgent necessity owing to the unfamiliarity of most people on the system.

Among the possible errors voters can commit is over-voting, according to Infante. Over voting, he said, happens when a voter shades circles or oval opposite of the candidates' name more than the number of required position. Thus, a voter who shaded 13 or more circles for senators will find all his or her votes for the senators, including the 12 he actually meant to vote, invalid.

There could be no problem, however, if the voter will blacken circles less than than twelve in the field.

Gary San Sebastian, meanwhile, said that besides actual voting process and the automated counting, elections almost look the same as the previous set. "There will still be lawyers, watchers and other parties concerned," he said. Protest could even be possible, he said.

They stressed four specific actions a voter should do to vote: These are: early check of their names in the voters' list, present to the board of election inspectors valid identification card, shade the circles opposite of the candidates he or she elects on the ballot and put the ballot correctly in the machine which serves as ballot box.

Illiterate citizens can still ask assistance from their relatives, as allowed in the previous elections.

The KofC officers underscored the need for everyone to deliver information to others.

All of its councils nationwide are enjoined to conduct the voters' forum even to smallest units of society such their own families, San Sebastian added.