Mock polls held today in 10 areas

MANILA, Philippines - Three months ahead of the May 13 polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is holding mock elections in 10 areas across the country today.

“We are prepared for the mock elections. All of our people are scattered all over the country and we are praying that everything will be perfect,  Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said.

If problems crop up, he expressed hope they would be minor.

He said the mock elections would cover the entire process of elections, from checking the name in the official voter’s list, to voting, counting, canvassing and releasing of poll results.

The mock elections will be conducted in 10 areas, with the main voting centers set up in UP Integrated School in the UP Campus in Diliman, and P. Bernardo High School in Bagong Lipunan Crame, both in Quezon City.

Like the actual elections, the voting period will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in these two voting centers, involving 1,639 potential ballots in 11 polling precincts.

The other mock elections will be held in the 5th congressional district of Manila at Epifanio delos Santos Elementary School and Herminigildo Atienza Elementary School; Iriga City in Iriga Central School and Sta. Teresita Elementary School, and the municipality of Bato at Bato North Elementary School and Atipolo Elementary School, in Camarines Sur; Dumaguete City (City Central Elementary School and Camanjac Elementary School) and the municipality of Sta. Catalina (Santa Catalina North Central School and Kabulacan Elementary School), in Negros Oriental.

Mock elections would be also held in Cagayan de Oro City at City Central School and Balulang Elementary School and the municipality of Initao (Initao Central School and Oguis Elementary School), in Misamis Oriental; and the municipalities of Bongao (Lamion Walking Blackboard Elementary School and Simandagit Elementary School) in Tawi-Tawi; and Buluan (Pilot Elementary School and Talitay Elementary School) in Maguindanao.

In these places, the mock polls will be conducted on a smaller scale from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., involving 50 voters from each of the identified voting centers.

Brillantes added the ballots to be used would bear fictitious foreign names of candidates to avoid controversies if the names of actual candidates are involved.