Zambo City declares new public officials

ZAMBOANGA CITY, May 11 (PIA) – Board of Election Inspectors proclaimed the new public officials in Zamboanga City Tuesday night (May 10) at Sangguniang Panlungsod immediately after the completion of election returns canvassing.

The new city Mayor of Zamboanga City is John Dalipe, Pinpin Pareja as Vice Mayor, Khymer Olaso as 1st District Congressman and Mannix Dalipe as 2nd District Congressman.

(Photo courtesy of Yoshi Rodriguez)

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said that the canvassing of votes have also experienced some delay because some polling centers in Zamboanga City especially in centers with higher number of voters extends voting hours due to number of voters flocked and lined-up in the precincts.

At past 7:00 pm, voters are still lined up on Monday (May 9) outside their precincts to be able to cast their votes. Some also waited more than four hours just to be able to vote.

Abdel Aziz, a voter, shares his experience in waiting for hours jus to cast his vote. “I waited patiently for my term because this is an election where we need to elect the next president of the country,” he added.

COMELEC clarified that the voters were accommodated as long as they are within 70 meters from the precincts.

Atty. Stephen Cañete, Election Officer of COMELEC Zamboanga emphasized that overall the election in the city is peaceful and no major problems encountered aside from the concerns of paper jamming of ballots in VCMs.

“We did not have major problems compared to what happened in 2019 where there are malfunctioned SD cards, the problem encountered now is when the machine malfunctioned, we only have to machines assigned for Zamboanga for contingency machine, which causes the delay,” Atty. Cañete added.

As observed, voters value the importance of their vote; for them to wait in a long line to cast their vote. “I wanted to vote, to help improve the Philippines and the city, for the future of our children,” one of the voters in line said. (RVC/MLE/PIA9-Zamboanga City)