By Jeti Ayop-Ohaylan
Davao Today
MARILOG, Davao City — Several voters at the Marilog Central Elementary School complained today that they could not find their names on the voters list. Reynaldo Bacalso, 49, said a number of the voters failed to vote as a result.
Many of the voters came from the sitios of Quimasog, Santo Nino and Lomondao, all of this barangay. They complained, Bacalso said, that their votes had gone to waste.
Amelyn Guniabo, the principal at the MCES, confirmed that several voters were not listed, They tried to look for the names in the master list but many of the voters could no longer wait because they were growing hungry by then.
The disenfranchised voters could no longer wait, too, for the board of election inspectors to attend to their complaint because these inspectors were busy.
Bacalso said this goes to show that the Commission on Election needs to do more to make elections in the country smooth and orderly.
Meanwhile, the inspectors at the Marilog school also complained that they did not have enough lighting equipment for the counting and tabulating of votes tonight.
Guniabo said she was afraid this would disrupt their task. She said she had requested from Marilog officials for these lighting equipment and materials as early as two days ago. They were given assurances that the problem would be taken care of, to no avail.
Guniabo said they were still looking for kerosene-powered Petromax lamps to be used for tonight. If they could not find any, she said, they would have to make do with small lamps.
The Marilog school has nine voting precincts with 2,081 registered voters. (Jetty Ayop-Ohaylan/davaotoday.com)
