Bohol province is not yet done with the canvassing of votes because of defective SD cards, officials said, adding that this has also caused the delay of the proclamation of some provincial winners in this province.
The canvassing of votes in the municipality of Sagbayan in Bohol province has been temporarily suspended since Monday.
It was suspended pending arrival of the five (5) reconfigured SD Cards from the Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC) Regional Technical Hub in Cebu.
The five defective Secured Digital Cards (SDC) represent five barangays of Sagbayan namely: Calangahan, Canmaya Centro, Katipunan, San Roque and Poblacion (Sitio Capitol & Sitio Kalubihan).
These cards bogged down on election day.
The COMELEC-Sagbayan and the Municipal Board of Canvassers decided to bring the defective SD Cards to the poll body’s Regional Technical Hub for reconfiguration.
“We will announce the resumption of the canvassing by the Municipal Board of Canvassers the moment those 5 reconfigured SD Cards arrive,” the LGU-Sagbayan said on Facebook.
Meanwhile, 2 SD cards arrived in Tubigon and at 9 a.m. Wednesday started feeding the ballots to the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) for the SD cards to read.
One reconfigured SD card in Panglao has yet to arrive.
Defective SD cards are delaying the canvassing of votes and the proclamation of many election winners in Bohol.
Votes from 45 of 48 towns in the province have been canvassed, as of press time.
Lawyer Eddie Aba, provincial election supervisor, said the problem is unavoidable.
“In fact, the same problem has also been experienced by the provinces. This time, we are fixing the problem,” Aba said.
“ I’ve been pressuring Manila already. I have been explaining to them that further delayed more problems and maybe negative impressions,” he added.
The delay is caused by the downloading from the central office in Manila, officials said.
So far, there were only 8 winners proclaimed on Tuesday. They were re-elected 2nd district Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado, newly-elected 3rd district Rep. Alexie Tutor; re-elected 3rd district board members Jade Bautista, Elpidio Jala and Dionisio Victor Balite and newly-elected board member Dr. Elpidio Bonita ; and newly-elected 2nd district board member Frans Garcia. Also proclaimed was outgoing Governor Edgar Chatto as 1st District Representative
