Philippines: Voting underway to elect 18,000 posts

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Voting is underway in the midterm elections in Philippines to elect legislators and local executives.

The outcome will test President Rodrigo Duterte's grip on power, halfway into his term.

More than 61 million Filipinos are registered to vote in the midterm polls, with roughly 43,000 candidates vying for some 18,000 government posts. The polls are also being held for half of country's 24-member Senate.

Polling opened at 6 a.m. local time (22:00 GMT on Sunday) and will close at 6 p.m. (10:00 GMT).

Those elected will take office on June 30, 2019, midway through the term of President Duterte.

According to Manila Standard online, around 150,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure security while 36,000 schools are being used as polling stations. So far no major incident was reported in the country – that constitutes more than 7,000 islands. Media outlets, however, stated that there were a handful of glitches in the computerized ballot scanners.

Strict instructions have been issued to bar display of arms on the polling day. The President even asked armed forces “to shoot and kill” candidates, who refuse to surrender firearms, despite a nationwide ban enforced for today’s polls.

“How can you arrest a person who does not want to surrender? Just kill them. That’s my order to everyone all over the country,” the President told a campaign rally organized by the ruling PDP-Laban party late Saturday.

The Philippines Army also asked voters not to get intimidated and exercise their right to vote freely. The statement came after reports of election-related violent incidents in some parts of Mindanao.

“The people should not be afraid to vote because if they don’t exercise their political rights then they [enemy] already won,” the Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said.