While several voters were taking longer than usual to cast their votes, “Tropang Angat” Senate bets Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno and Antonio Trillanes IV were able to vote smoothly in their respective polling precincts on Monday, May 9.
Both Diokno and Trillanes belong to the slate of Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, who are running for president and vice president, respectively.
Trillanes, in his white polo, voted at 10:30 a.m. at Precinct 0687B in Barangay 169 of Caloocan City.
His office released photos of the former senator who lined up like any other Filipino voters and fed his ballot into the vote-counting machine (VCM) on election day.
Trillanes did not encounter any long queues of people and delays when he cast his vote, his camp said.
Many voters had to line up for more than three hours in some polling precincts nationwide because of machine error.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that there were 1,800 VCMs that malfunctioned, but these have already been repaired.
READ: Comelec: 1,800 VCMs malfunction on poll day
Like Trillanes, Diokno went to vote at San Juan National High School in San Juan City without any hassle.
The human rights lawyer availed himself of the priority lane for senior citizens in the polling center. He is 61 years old.
His campaign team said Diokno entered the polling precinct at 12:06 p.m. and was already finished casting his vote 20 minutes later.
After he voted, Diokno posed for a photo with his children showing their fingers with indelible ink.
“With my CHELdren after we voted! Voting precints are open til 7pm. Konting sakripisyo lang po para sa ating Inang Bayan (Just take a little sacrifice for our mother nation),” he said in a Facebook post.
He then advised the public to report to the Lawyers for Chel if they have encountered any election violation.