Palawan plebiscite results out March 16: Comelec

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is expecting to get the results of the Palawan plebiscite on March 16, three days after the holding of the measure that will determine whether or not it will be divided into three separate provinces.

“March 16 is our expected date. Of course, allow us a range on this since we have to take into account the weather also and other circumstances,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press conference on Thursday.

For his part, Commissioner Antonio Kho, Jr., commissioner-in-charge of the Palawan plebiscite, added that they cannot release the results on the same day since it is a manual system of voting.

“No we cannot. As I have explained, this plebiscite is a manual elections. This is not automated, wherein after the polls, precincts will immediately transmit the results to the municipal canvassing until it reached the national canvassing. That will be fast since it is electronically transmitted,” he said.

Kho said this means the precinct will manually count the votes and these will then be physically transported to the municipal board of canvassers.

“So it will take time. There is travel time. Please understand that there is travel time unlike electronic voting,” the poll body official added.

Considering the situation, Kho appealed for the people’s understanding.

“I will ask our voters to please have patience since we are in a manual election. We cannot expect results within a day. Although as mentioned earlier hopefully we could get the final results by the 16th, although it may give or take a day or two so that we could determine if it is a “Yes” or is it a “No”. Please understand the situation, we have a different system on this plebiscite,” Kho said.

At the same time, he assured that they are ready for the holding of the referendum scheduled on Saturday.

“I assure everybody that is all systems go. The Comelec people all over Palawan are ready to conduct this plebiscite. We need your support. Please cooperate with us,” the Comelec commissioner added.

He, however, reported that a scheduled trip of poll officers to Kalayaan island on Wednesday did not push through because of bad weather.

“We have contingency measure for that. We expect that the plebiscite will be held in Kalayaan,” Kho said.

On March 13, the people of Palawan will be choosing to vote for or against the island being divided into three areas namely: Palawan Oriental, Palawan del Norte and Palawan del Sur.