MANILA, Philippines – A polling center in Bangued, Abra, was significantly damaged after it caught fire early morning on Wednesday, May 7, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
Dandangla Elementary School, which is set to be the site of one polling place, was at least 70% destroyed, according to a Comelec report.
The poll center’s one vote-counting machine (VCM) had not yet been delivered to the school by the time the fire broke out.
In a media forum on Wednesday, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that the school will still be used as a polling place on election day, Monday, May 12, for the 992 voters listed to vote there.
The local Comelec office is set to put up a makeshift center at the site. While the main building was destroyed by the fire, two were unaffected and operational. This will be used as the priority polling place, and the administrative and storage area.
Final testing and sealing of the VCM is also pushing through on Wednesday at 2 pm, or as soon as electricity is restored in the two unaffected rooms, and the Bureau of Fire Authority declares the building safe.
“Given these, plus the clear instructions to erect makeshift polling center based on the continuity (contingency) plan, elections will proceed as scheduled on May 12, 2025,” Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said, citing Garcia.
The commission is still gathering more information about the cause of the fire.
“Inaalam pa po ang kadahilanan ng sunog, kung yan man po ay intentional na ginawa dahil malapit ang halalan,” said Garcia. (We are still investigating the cause of the fire, such as whether it was intentionally lit because the election is nearing.)
The Comelec is also set to increase security presence in the area, especially on election day.
Since the Comelec said it was mulling over putting Abra on Comelec control in April, there has not been a single reported incident of violence in the province. The Philippine National Police had also put up a “Task Force Abra,” which had heightened vigilance over possible election-related violence.
There are over 188,000 registered voters in Abra, with 35,227 in Bangued. – Rappler.com