Progress report

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) proudly announced on Monday, May 9, that of the 54.4 million registered Filipino voters, about 40 million or  81.62 percent exercised their right of suffrage.
This year has seen the fastest transmission of election returns since the automated poll was introduced in 2010. At 10:50pm on Monday, the transmission rate for 2016 elections was already at 74 percent. In 2010 and 2013, the electronic transmission was only at 17 and 23 percent during the same time, respectively.
More Filipinos abroad also cast their votes during the 30-day voting period in 85 Philippine posts worldwide. Comelec reported a total of 376,586 out of the 1,376,067 registered overseas Filipinos worldwide or 29.56 percent voter turnout. It was 285 percent higher compared to the 2013 polls.
Garry Martines of Migrante International said that this year has seen a higher turnout of overseas absentee voting (OAV) because FIlipinos abroad want accountability and new leaders who will nurture overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and migrant workers, and their families back home.
“Our OFWs have remained vigilant,” he said. “We have once again proven how resilient and significant our OFWs are. We have disproved all claims that there had been a growing apathy among our OAVs.”
For their part, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported that the 2016 elections may still be considered generally peaceful despite some isolated reports of Election Related Violent Incidents (ERVIs) and delays due to glitches in the vote counting machines (VCMs).
There were 164 recorded ERVIs since January, the beginning of election season. Despite the 140,000 police personnel deployed across the 36,000 polling precincts across the country on Monday, the AFP still recorded 22 ERVIs, which resulted to 10 fatalities and three wounded.
Both security agencies vowed to  remain vigilant until the last winner is proclaimed.
Meanwhile, voting had to be extended to until 6pm on Monday in some precincts due to some delays caused by malfunctioning VCMs. Comelec said that out of the 77,829 VCMs, 171 needed replacement, which is equivalent to 0.2 percent.
Because voting and the transmission of election results went smoothly, Comelec confirmed that so far, there is no need for special elections. Comelec will only hold a special election when precincts that reported failure of elections, have votes that can significantly change the results.
All in all, Monday’s polls are gearing towards a satisfactory conclusion, which is more than what is expected. Even international observers agree.
These positive reports reflect how Filipinos may have finally realized the power that belongs to them, which is to choose the leaders they think are adequate to represent their best interests. It strengthened their participation in this democratic process and trust in the system that is election. (AJPress)