5 more precincts opened at Bayanihan from today

 By Daisy CL Mandap 

A newly opened vote counting machine is tested - five more of these will be put in use from today

Responding to a clamor from Filipinos taking part in this year’s overseas voting in Hong Kong the Commission on Elections has allowed the Consulate to open five more precincts at Bayanihan Centre starting today, Tuesday.

The decision was relayed by Consul General Raly Tejada to The SUN in a text message late on Monday. The Consulate posted a separate announcement on its Facebook page a few minutes later.

This means, the number of precincts in Hong Kong will revert to the original ten, instead of the five that were opened on the first day of voting on Sunday.

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The shortage of polling stations resulted in a long line of voters, sparking a request from the police that the queuing be stopped less than four hours after the polling started, saying they could no longer the crowd.

“Medyo we can rest easy now,” Congen Tejada said in a message, before adding “This election will set a new record in terms of participation.”

He said he was particularly happy about the 1,265 people who turned up to vote on the second day of voting, which was relatively high for a weekday.

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On the first day, the turnout reached 3,265 despite the early cut-off.

Voters in precinct 4 had to wait longer when the VCM got full so its SD card had to be replaced

Many migrant workers have called out both the Consulate and the Comelec for halving the number of precincts in Hong Kong at a time when overseas Filipinos are being asked to take part in what is seen as a watershed election in the country.

Shiela Tebia-Bonifacio, vice chairperson of United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante said in a statement that halting the voting before noon on the first day was to be expected because only five VCMs were in place to cater to the thousands who had lined up to vote.

“We already pointed out that this is very problematic, with 93,000 voters. And this is the result: stopping people from queuing six hours before the polling closed for the day,” she said.

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The migrant leader also questioned the Consulate for saying that they expected a turnout of around 40%, given the pandemic-related restrictions enforced in Hong Kong. Bonifacio said this was an attempt to disenfranchise many Filipinos.

But Congen Tejada said the Consulate had been lobbying with the Comelec to keep the 10 precincts previously assigned to Hong Kong.

He said they were aware that Filipinos in Hong Kong have actively participated in overseas voting from the time it was introduced in 2004, and that more machines were needed to ensure a higher turnout this year.

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Comelec’s decision was said to have been based on a finding that each VCM could take in 20,000 ballots so with Hong Kong’s 93,000 registered voters, five machines would have sufficed.

What they apparently failed to consider was that five precincts would be unable to cope with voters’ demand on Sundays and public holidays when foreign domestic workers who make up most of the voting population are off.

As soon as voting began Sunday, however, Congen Tejada already said he was confident he would get the required authority from Comelec within the week. The police move of halting the queue that day because of an overflow of voters could have only driven home the point.

Getting the precincts ready was no big deal, said Congen, as they had already anticipated getting the approval, and the additional VCMs were already on standby.

Names previously listed under the previous six to ten precincts remained clustered and were just mixed in with those in the five existing ones, allowing for easy segregation.

Teams that will man the additional precincts have already been put together and trained so they will have no problem overseeing the polling from the get-go, said Congen.

On top of these preparations, he said he will talk to the police so they will not halt the queues on Sundays and holidays, when most of the voters are able to go out to cast their ballots.

“I will make sure to inform them that we have the capacity to handle more voters,” he said.

“We just need to work harder so we can clear the lines faster.”

All Filipinos in Hong Kong who are registered to cast their ballots in the month-long election get the chance to vote for a new president, vice-president and 12 senators who will each have a six-year term; and a party-list of their choice.

Those who get elected in the highly contentious election will have to steer the country through the pandemic and a moribund economy wracked by political wrangling and alleged corruption.

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1,265 voted on 2nd day of overseas voting marred by fake exit polls

By The SUN 

Bayanihan exit: No viable survey could have taken place here amid tight security

Fake exit polls showing improbable sample figures marred the second day of overseas voting in Hong Kong.

According to Consul General Raly Tejada, 1,265 Filipinos turned out to cast their ballots on the second day of overseas voting for the Philippines’ next president, vice president, 12 senators and new partylist representatives.

“Not bad for a weekday,” Congen Tejada said.

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But the day started in controversy when various posts supposedly showing varying tallies of exit polls conducted in Hong Kong on the first day of voting surfaced on social media.

The supposed exit polls showed samples that either exceeded the day’s turnout of 3,285 or were made to fit the number exactly, in an attempt to correct their earlier mistake of posting overblown and obviously fictitious numbers.

The Consulate's official announcement of the turnout
was taken out after it was used to call out the fake pollsters

One of those who posted the clearly falsified exit poll figures was Jay Sonza, a Manila-based former journalist and now known as a rabid supporter of presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his running mate, Sara Duterte.

In a post that immediately went viral, Sonza showed a tally sheet that came from Hong Kong overseas Filipino worker and Marcos-Duterte supporter Bryan Calagui that purportedly had Marcos getting 3,780 votes in an exit poll, far exceeding the total day’s turnout.

Fake: Sonza posted Calagui's handwritten tally showing the improbable vote count

In comparison, Marcos’ closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, supposedly received only 89 votes. There was no number given for the other contenders, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Senator Manny Pacquiao or Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Without giving the total number of people surveyed, Calagui posted on his own wall that Marcos won 85% of the votes, which did not tally with the numbers he supplied for the two candidates.

Even more stupendous was the 3,987 votes listed for Duterte, while the only other vice-presidential candidate mentioned, Dr Willie Ong, only had 23 votes. Again, the other contenders for the post including Robredo’s running mate, Senator Kiko Pangilinan, were not mentioned at all in the tally.

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Calagui posted his tally sheet which he appears to have completed all by himself shortly after 6pm, nearly two hours before the Consulate had finished tallying the actual votes cast and issuing  a public announcement of the day’s turnout.

A mask-less Calagui is shown taking pictures of his tally sheet in an FB post  

The Consulate's official announcement of the day's turnout on its Facebook page mysteriously disappeared Monday afternoon after various groups used it in denouncing the fake surveys.

Probably realizing their mistake of preempting the Consulate's announcement of the official tally some unknown pollsters from the same camp gave other results where the total number of supposed respondents nearly matched the official tally.

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In one tally sheet Marcos was shown to get a total of 3,124 votes for a 96.80% share of the entire 3,225 votes tallied, while Robredo trailed at 2%.

Another showed Marcos getting 3,336 votes, or a mind-boggling 97.14% share of the 3,434 voters supposedly surveyed.

Fake: Another exit poll result with obviously manufactured tally

In Manila, a certain Kim Indar tweeted another purported exit poll in Hong Kong showing Marcos with an even bigger lead, garnering 3,357 votes compared with Robredo’s 65. The rest of the candidates were shown to have received negligible support.

Again, the figures looked suspicious since a true exit poll would have only a small percentage of the actual number of people who voted. This is because many voters decline to be surveyed, or convincing them to take part and reveal their choice of candidates takes time.

In addition, many of them come out of the voting center all at the same time so there should be a number of pollsters waiting by the exit gates to get them all to participate.

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In this particular instance, conducting a viable exit poll would also have been impossible because police and volunteers were everywhere and they all made sure people who were going in and out of Bayanihan Centre did not linger by the gates, in line with the government’s strict pandemic restrictions.

The security was so tight, in fact, that the police had to ask the Consulate to stop people from queuing less than four hours after the polling started, saying they had difficulty controlling the crowd.

Consulate officials acknowledged being told that some women pollsters had tried to approach some voters after they had cast their ballots late in the afternoon. But the advice they gave was simple: “Ignore them.”

However, the fake story appeared to have gained enough traction that Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez had to explain that “as a general rule, unless a known and reputable survey firm released the exit poll, this is not reliable."

He also reminded people that the actual results of the election won't be known until after May 9, when all the votes cast will be counted, whether abroad or in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the second day of voting went by without a hitch, except for one vote counting machine which had to be shut down and recalibrated after being fed with 1,000 ballots.

The SD card in the machine had to be taken out along with the ballot box, and both had to be sealed and kept in a secure place until the start of the canvassing on May 9.

A new SD card was then inserted into the VCR and a new ballot box set up before voting resumed, a process that reportedly took no less than 30 minutes.

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Covid-19 cases now down to 1,407

CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan and Chief Executiver Carrie La in separate press conferences.

New Covid-19 cases dropped to 1,407 today, down 27 per cent from 1,921 the day before, continuing a steady decline in the city's infection rate in the past few weeks, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reported today.

Of these new cases, 698 tested positive through PCR (plus 13 imported cases), while 709 were detected through rapid antigen tests (RAT). 

CHP also reported 57 additional deaths, against 52 the previous day.

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CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan noted that the three-day mass testing with the rapid antigen-test (RAT) kits distributed to households last week, yielded 2,875 new cases that were voluntarily reported by residents from Friday to Sunday.

Of the RAT positives, 80 per cent just needed to isolate at home.

About 65 percent of the RAT positives were asymptomatic while 35 percent showed symptoms during the three days. 

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Previous statistics show that 65 percent of patients detected by RATs had symptoms. This proportion dropped to 35 percent during the three-day voluntary testing period, suggesting the exercise helped to flush out asymptomatic patients, who may have been unknowingly spreading the disease.

"Fewer cases were reported on the second and third day of the mass testing period (Saturday and Sunday), perhaps because most invisible patients have been detected on the first day,” Chuang said. 

In the wake of the three day RAT exercise, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that all 800,000 students and school staff must undergo a daily RAT test to prevent a Covid-19 resurgence when face-to-face classes resume from April 19.

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To support this requirement, the government will distribute 10 million rapid test kits for free, for schools to distribute to an estimated 300,000 pupils in need, she said. Those who test positive must report their results to their schools and the Centre for Health Protection, so they can be taken care of.

“I must admit that there may be risks when we resume in-person classes after the Easter break, and I cannot rule out that there might be a rebound in cases. But having assessed the pros and cons, the government believes that we will be able to control the risk, because at the end of day, we put students’ interests first,” she said.

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All pupils will be allowed back to school, but those who are unvaccinated will be barred from taking part in non-academic activities such as music and sports, which was “for their own protection”, she added.

If at least five percent of pupils and staff from a school test positive, or if 10 percent or more of them in the same class have been infected, classes will be suspended and an investigation will be launched, according to Secretary of Health Ronald Lam.

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3,285 Filipinos cast ballots on first day of overseas voting in HK

By Daisy CL Mandap 

The line going to Bayanihan extends to as far as the eye could see

Amid the strictest anti-pandemic restrictions in Hong Kong, a total of 3,285 Filipinos managed to cast their ballots on the first day of overseas voting for the 2022 presidential election in the Philippines.

However, only 3,282 votes were counted as three ballots were rejected due to unnecessary marks on them and unintentional damage.

The turnout came as a pleasant surprise to Consulate officials, given the strict gathering regulations that forced them to comply with the police request to stop people from queuing up outside the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town less than four hours after polling began.

Consul Raly Tejada told The SUN that as early as 11:30am they already received a warning from the police that they were having a difficult time controlling the crowd.

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The police team leader, a female officer, went up to Bayanihan and requested Congen Tejada to stop allowing people to queue.

“What worried them more was the steady stream of people,” said Congen Tejada. “Their spotters at Kennedy Town MTR station were reporting huge numbers still coming. Police recommended we already inform the public that voter turnout was heavier than expected and that the line has stretched more than 2 kms.”

By this time, the police estimated that more than 3,000 people were already in the area, so the Consulate was forced to tell the public of the problem.

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“By 11:50am, upon the request of the police we came out to talk to the people to ask them to vote on another day,” said Congen. “The police were very worried about the situation and rightly so.”

Consulate officials fear that the month-long voting could be halted altogether if a Covid-19 outbreak is recorded from among the thousands who had lined up to be among the first to vote for the country’s next president, vice-president, 12 new senators and a party-list.

Congen Tejada negotiates with police team leader before call to stop the queue was issued

Congen Tejada was nevertheless grateful for the unexpected heavy turnout on the first day of the overseas vote.

“In my view the enthusiasm showed by our kababayans in Hong Kong is exceptional. I am very proud of them for showing up on the first day,” he said.

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“Nonetheless we have to give regard to the anti-pandemic measures, so I appeal to everyone to consider voting on another day. We have 30 days naman po so we have have another 29 days."

The heavy turnout also surprised many Filipino community leaders who were out early in anticipation of the 8am poll opening, but they also regretted that hundreds, if not thousands, had to be turned away because the precincts this year were only half the usual number.

Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chairperson of United Filipinos-Migrante Hong Kong said, “The Consulate should press Comelec (Commission on Elections) to send us more vote-counting machines (VCMs) so there will be more precincts to serve our voters,” she said.

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“A lot of our registered voters may end up not being able to cast their ballots because there are now only five precincts instead of the 10 we have always had.”

With more than 93,000 registered voters, she said it will be difficult to even come close to the  49% turnout recorded in the last presidential election in 2016 if only five precincts and five VCMs are in service.

Balladares-Pelaez joined other Filcom leaders all over the world in a press conference last week to hit out at Comelec’s act of slashing the OV budget by half, and at foreign posts abroad not acting quickly enough to ensure a smooth conduct of elections.

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Congen Tejada said the Consulate has already brought up the need for more VCMs to Comelec so they can open additional precincts soon.

CG says 5 more precincts should be added within this week

“We are working hard to open another five precincts para ma accommodate lahat ng tao,” he said. “I am positive that within this week baka mapapatakbo na natin.” (we could get them working already).

The overflow crowds and the shortage of VCMs aside, Congen Tejada said he didn’t see any major problems affecting the conduct of the elections.

At the start, there were problems with the ballots getting stuck in the VCMs but he said these were just slight hiccups that happened because the operators forgot to open the receptacle for the ballots.

Congen said this happened even in his own precinct, as he was the second voter to cast his ballot.

The first was Baneng Mendez of Unifil-Migrante, who camped outside Bayanihan starting at 9am on Saturday, to make sure she could keep her record of being first in line for the third-year running.

Compared to the previous overseas voting which were held every three years starting in 2004, there were only a few people who never made it to a precinct - either because they failed to make it to the early cut-off for queuing, their names were not in the certified list of voters or because they had been delisted for failing to vote in the last two consecutive elections.

One of them was an elderly man who presented both his HKID card and a voter’s ID, but his name was no longer in the registry though he said he voted in 2016.

When told that he needed to register again, he told the Consulate staff tasked with verifying voters’ credentials to just put back his name in the registry, not realizing that only Comelec could add or amend the voters’ list.

Another woman who ended up lining for the bus back home instead of into Bayanihan, said she took one look at the end of the queue and was disheartened to see that it had extended to beyond two blocks away.

She said she’d just ask her employer to allow her to go out on a regular day so she wouldn’t have to line up just to vote.

A few voters had their names misspelled or they were still listed under their maiden surnames, but they were allowed to vote, with a reminder to get the matters sorted out when registration opens for the next election.

For most of those who did manage to cast their ballots, the long wait was the crunch.

First stop is name check and assignment of precinct number

One voter who got to finally stand outside her precinct by 11am said she arrived at Bayanihan at 7am, or an hour before the doors opened. She said she was hungry and tired and just wanted to get through the process.

Another voter who nearly did not make it to the cut-off time said she was anxious not to be turned away as she had a flight to catch Monday. She said she got to the tail-end of the queue at 11:30am, and managed to get to her precinct just before 6pm.

She said she had a big breakfast so did not mind having to give up lunch, but was already looking forward to hopping onto a taxi to go home as her whole body was aching from having to stand up for so long.

While in the queue, she said she tried to convert those who were standing close by vote for her chosen candidates, but failed because they were all set on their choices.

It took some voters up to 6 hours to get to their assigned precincts

Still, she was happy that everyone who was already in line was allowed to get in and vote, despite the published closing time of 5pm.

The month-long overseas voting will be held every day from 8am to 5pm at Bayanihan Centre, except on the last day, May 9, when voting will be extended until 7pm. This is the only day when all registered voters in the Philippines will cast their ballots.

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Covid-19 cases now below 2k; officials say self-tests were effective

by The SUN

 

Rapid testing kits were in the care packs distributed to residents last week

Hong Kong’s confirmed cases of Covid-19 fell to 1,921 Sunday, with more than half being reported by residents who took part in the three-day voluntary self-testing as suggested by the government.

Dr Albert Au of the Centre for Health Protection said 888 of the new cases were detected through PCR tests while 1,033 came from positive results from rapid tests that were reported to the government platform.

Au said the self-testing exercise had been successful as health authorities received a total of 2,202 reports from people who tested positive on rapid tests on Friday and Saturday, the first two days of voluntary testing.

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He said the figure might increase when the results from the third and last day of the self-testing exercise come in.

Among those who reported their positive results 68.7% had no symptoms, which meant that they could have continued mixing with people and passing on the virus to them.

"Nearly 70 percent of the 2,000 cases were asymptomatic. If they had not done the test, they would have continued to go out and had contact with other people without knowing they're infected. The transmission chain would have continued,” Au said.

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The fact that there are now more cases confirmed through rapid tests than through PCR tests means that people have responded to the government’s appeal to test themselves and help curb silent transmissions, he added.

Earlier Chief Executive Carrie Lam also said there had been a surge in the reported rapid test results as the three-day voluntary self-test exercise entered its third day.

But she said the overall tally was falling, with the cases confirmed by PCR tests now down to three digits.

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While there’s no way of knowing how many residents had completed the voluntary tests, the CE said there was anecdotal evidence from social media suggesting many of them had taken part.

She also said that unless there’s another huge surge of the coronavirus, the plan to gradually relax social distancing measures will go ahead from Apr 21.

“But the relaxation will be gradual, it will take three stages over three months in order to remove most of the social distancing measures we have put in. But apparently, it will have no particular relevance to the RAT exercise," she said.

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Of the new cases, 18 were imported and were brought in by travelers from Malta, the Philippines, Turkey, USA, Greece, Japan and Indonesia.

As Japan Airlines and Turkish Airlines have each carried three or more passengers who tested positive for Covid on arrival in Hong Kong, they both have been suspended from flying in from Tokyo and Istanbul for seven days respectively.

Au said the city’s tally from the Omicron outbreak has gone up to 1,175,552.

An additional 65 deaths have been reported, including 53 that happened on Saturday. The rest were recorded earlier but were not tallied on time.

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They pushed the death toll in the fifth wave to 8,557.

The youngest fatality was a 31-year-old man who fainted at home last month. He received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine in August last year.

In mid-October he had a fever and chest discomfort and he sought treatment at a private hospital. An electrocardiogram done on him showed an abnormal result and he was admitted to a public hospital on Oct 17.

On admission, he was tested for Covid but the result was negative. He was diagnosed with myocarditis and given medicines.

On Mar 9 he lost consciousness at home and had convulsions for 30 seconds. He was taken to hospital but was certified death. A postmortem showed he had Covid-19.

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