BY: VANESSA BUGTONG
For siblings Igor and Nicole Cawed, election day in Baguio City is more than just about casting votes, it’s about honoring their heritage.
Instead of wearing regular clothes, the two showed up at their precinct in Barangay Military Cut-Off dressed in traditional Cordilleran attire.
“We’ve been doing this as our way of promoting our culture and tradition as Cordillerans,” Igor said.
He added that this practice began with their father and is something they plan to continue with future generations.
“We plan to pass it down to our younger generations, for it to continue,” he said. “We believe voting is not just a political right, it’s also an expression of identity.”
Elsewhere in Baguio, some polling precincts experienced technical difficulties.
At Pines City National High School, one automated counting machine (ACM) initially accepted ballots but failed to produce receipts.
Electoral board members and DESO technical staff worked together to fix the machine.
After several attempts and more than ten minutes, they were able to resolve the issue.
A similar malfunction was reported in another precinct in Barangay Irisan.
According to electoral board chair Prima Donna Garcia, these issues are mostly due to the need for regular cleaning of the vote counting machines.
“The main problems we’ve encountered are with the vote counting machines. They need to be cleaned after every 15 ballots,” she explained.
Despite these minor delays, none of the ACMs in the city had to be replaced.
COMELEC earlier assured the public that 36 backup machines were available in case of breakdowns.
