Vice-Mayoralty Candidate Fears Internet Trouble; To Seek Help from Authorities

Following reports that there are certain areas of their town that may not be reached by Internet signal, San Fernando vice-mayoralty candidate Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya is set to ask authorities to help guide the people’s votes.

“If this will happen, and I believe it is very likely, we will ask the Comelec and the police to help us guard the votes, as these are manually transferred to the canvassing area,” said Reluya in an interview. Reluya said it already happened in the 2010 elections, wherein some of San Fernando’s upland barangays failed to transmit the votes to the canvassing area through the use of the Internet, hence, members of the election board had to hand-carry the memory cards from the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machines. Reluya believed it was at this juncture when cheating happened. Reluya’s wife, Lakambini, an incumbent mayor, was running for reelection at that time, but lost to Antonio Canoy by 1,255 votes.

Earlier, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted there are remote upland barangays of San Fernando which are having troubles with signal, but it also assured that back-up Internet connection will be readied on the election day if in case the first server fails.