DOE assures Comelec of continuous power until third week of May

The Department of Energy (DOE) has assured the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of continuous power until the third week of May.

In a report by the Business World, Election Commissioner George Erwin M. Garcia said that the DOE assured Comelec that there won’t be any blackouts until the third week of May. Comelec has also borrowed about 1,000 generator sets from the energy department for uninterrupted power while Filipinos vote for a new president.

Earlier, Inquirer.net reported that voters encountered power outages and faulty vote-counting machines (VCMs).

Comelec acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said that their office has contingency measures in place for malfunctioning VCMs, and that elections shall continue in areas with malfunctioning VCMs.

“In the meantime, what will happen? Tuloy po ang botohan. Hindi po hihinto. Pabobotohin po ‘yung tao. ‘Yun nga lang po kung sakali man, hindi po nila ma-e-experience mag-feed nung balota sa machine. Pero hindi po ibig sabihin na hindi bibilangin,” Laudiangco said.