Poll suspension in 3 Pampanga towns eyed

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga — The provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has recommended the suspension of barangay elections in Sasmuan, Lubao and Guagua towns due to heavy flooding in these areas.

Artemio Lambino, provincial Comelec supervisor, said he also proposed to Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos the declaration of failure of elections in 12 barangays in this city should the floods not recede by Monday and prevent voters from casting their votes.

Gov. Lito Lapid and Vice Gov. Mikey Arroyo earlier had batted for the suspension of barangay elections in heavily flooded areas in the province.

Rains continued to pour over wide areas in Central Luzon yesterday, with the number of affected families increasing to 183,319 or 861,080 people in 829 barangays. Floodwaters was reported to have risen in 18 towns in Pampanga, 17 in Bulacan, 13 in Zambales, 12 in Bataan, and 10 in Tarlac.

Lambino said the Comelec central office is expected to issue before Monday an en banc resolution suspending the elections in the Pampanga towns of Sasmuan, Lubao and Guagua.

Failure of elections is also expected to be declared in Barangays San Juan, San Jose, Sta. Lucia, San Felipe, Sto. Rosario, Sto. Nino, San Nicolas, Del Pilar, San Pedro, Lourdes, Juliana and Pandaras in this city if voters fail to make it to their precincts on Monday due to the floods.

Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, Central Luzon police director, said 28,000 policemen and soldiers will be put on alert in the region’s 3,109 barangays for Monday’s elections, regardless of the widespread flooding.

In Pangasinan, meanwhile, the death toll due to the week-long monsoon rains has reached 11, mostly due to drowning, as the province’s 43 towns and cities remained inundated.

The 11th victim was six-month-old Ansamel Janila Sator who drowned while sleeping beside her mother in a shanty under the Magsaysay Bridge in Dagupan City.

A 37-year-old resident of San Fabian, a certain Ariel Generalao, remains missing.

Disaster officials initially placed the damage to fisheries at P37.5 million, livestock at P103,300, and infrastructure at P5.08 million.

In Tarlac, water released from the Binga Dam in Benguet has worsened flooding in 72 barangays in Tarlac City and nine municipalities. — With Eva de Leon, Ric Sapnu and Benjie Villa