Soldiers cast their votes in local absentee voting in Aurora

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 28): Soldiers cast their votes in local absentee voting in Aurora
 

Soldiers from the 56th Infantry “Tatag” Battalion, Philippine Army on Thursday cast their votes as the local absentee voting for the May 9 elections entered its second day.

1Lt. Benjamin A. Allip, committee officer in charge for the absentee voting assigned by his superior Lt. Col. Joey A. Escanillas, said the manual voting started at 8 a.m. where military personnel filled up the ballot by writing the names of candidates for president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives who they want to lead the country.

“Our soldiers have to exercise their right to vote since they will be in the security operations on May 9, 2016 elections to protect our people and our votes,” Allip said.

As per his instructions to the soldiers, Allip advised them to place the accomplished ballot inside the inner envelope, close and seal the envelope with a paper seal and place the sealed inner envelope inside the outer envelope, which shall likewise be sealed with a paper seal.

“Of course, the voter must write his name and signature on the space provided for in the outer envelope and submit the sealed envelope to the battalion commander,” he explained.

Allip said that there are 331 soldiers that will cast their votes as approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“Some of our soldiers came from their own area of assignment in Nueva Ecija, Alfonso Castaneda in Nueva Vizcaya, and portion of Quirino, Isabela and the whole Aurora,” he said.

Lawyer Panfilo C. Doctor, Jr., provincial election supervisor, said the counting of local absentee voting (LAV) will start in the evening of May 9 using the manual system of counting of vertical and diagonal lines, and in the presence of all representatives of the candidates and political parties.

He said the absentee voting allows soldiers to cast their votes at their respective offices earlier than the official election date on May 9 because of job-related duties, provided that they applied to be part of such a process.

The 56th IB will assist the Aurora police in providing comprehensive security coverage to ensure the safe and fair conduct of the May polls in the whole province.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=880621