Individuals carry equipment being used during elections in the Cordillera in this undated photo. Comelec Cordillera Director Julius Torres, on Thursday (Jan. 30, 2025) said internet connection remains an issue in their area, but this is being addressed ahead of the May 12 elections. (Screenshot from Comelec-Baguio video)
BAGUIO CITY – Internet connection and transportation of election paraphernalia due to distance pose challenges to the conduct of elections in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Citing experiences during the mock elections in Mountain Province on Jan. 25, Comelec-CAR Director Julius Torres said the voting center in Ankileng, Sagada has internet connectivity issues but this would be addressed using the satellite internet constellation kit of Starlink.
“iOne Solutions, the company contracted to look at the internet connectivity issues of the voting precincts have been visiting the sites to have an actual testing of the internet connectivity and we hope they finish and complete the testing soon which would allow us to see the actual situation,” he told the Philippine News Agency Thursday.
Torres said provincial election supervisors in the region have also submitted a list indicating the status of internet connectivity to guide the actual testing of the company.
“We do not see any problem with internet connectivity on the day of the election because this is being addressed,” he said.
The mock elections were conducted from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. with the help of the Electoral Board, who would serve in the May 12 polls.
Torres said the activity ended at around 10:45 a.m. after the ballots were transmitted to the national center.
He said about 100 voters were supposed to join the process for the officials to observe the end-to-end testing of the process but some backed out, so he needed to “vote” four times to meet their goal.
He also shared that during the mock election, they saw the possibility of long queues for those who will feed their ballots into the machine, noting that it will take the voter at least 20 seconds to check each of the four pages of the ballots.
“Thus, we submitted a suggestion for the central office to shorten the viewing time per page,” he said.
“Overall it was okay. (We) saw some needs. We will report and suggest some modifications,” Torres added.
Lawyer Mae Richelle Belmes earlier said that in her area, Apayao, among the issues they are seeing include the difficulty of bringing the election materials to the voting center and vice versa because some areas are without roads while others can only be accessed using boats.
“We are already addressing this, and we hope that everything will go smoothly like in the past,” she said. (PNA)