RP poll results in NMI up for national tabulation

The Philippine Consulate General on Saipan disclosed yesterday that election results in the Asian country’s absentee voting in the CNMI have been transmitted to the Philippine election commission.

Consul General Wilfredo Maximo said the poll results were transmitted through the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs so that they could be tabulated along with election results from other absentee voting centers and from across the country.

He described the absentee voting process—the first time that the system was implemented by the Philippine government to allow its citizens abroad to exercise their right to vote—as a success in the CNMI.

“[Voter turnout] was fairly consistent with the overall figure for overseas absentee voting conducted elsewhere,” Maximo said. “We would have liked it very much if we [were] able to attract greater number of voters on the last voting day.”

A total of 4,740 out of 7,003 registered Filipino voters cast their ballots at the polling place on Saipan, which translates to a voter turnout percentage of 67.68.

Maximo also brushed aside complaints reported on national television in the Philippines, which assailed the absence of a polling center on Rota.

He said the number of registered voters on Rota only totaled over 350, less than the 500 total that would have necessitated the establishment of a polling center. The consulate put up the lone polling center for Filipino voters in the entire Commonwealth at the Nauru Building in Susupe, Saipan.

Maximo also said the official results of the absentee voting polls on Saipan coincide with the unofficial results released Wednesday by the National Movement for Free Elections, a Philippine election watchdog. Maximo and Philippine consul Wenceslao Gayola supervised the electoral process as special board of election inspectors.

NAMFREL had reported that incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won the presidential race in the Saipan polls by getting 2,047 votes. The candidates tailing behind Arroyo according to their ranking, were movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., who had 1,096 votes; former police chief and senator Panfilo Lacson, 645 votes; former senator and resigned Education Secretary Raul Roco, 461 votes; and religious leader Eddie Villanueva, 435 votes.

In the vice presidential race, Noli de Castro pulled away with a big margin over his rivals, defeating fellow newsman and senator Loren Legarda. De Castro got 3,183 votes, while Legarda only had 1,383. Far behind them were Herminio S. Aquino, who had 83 votes, and Rodolfo T. Pajo, who only got 3 votes.

In the senatorial race, former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim topped the Saipan polls with 3,196 votes. Trade Secretary Mar Roxas, grandson of a former Philippine president, ranked second with 2,925 votes, while Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon followed next with 2,742 votes.

The other candidates who made it to the top twelve and their respective votes were: Bong Revilla, 2,655; Orlando Mercado, 2,435; Lito Lapid, 2,336; Robert Barbers, 2,330; Rodolfo Biazon, 2,321; Aquilino Pimentel Jr., 2,298; Miriam Defensor-Santiago, 2,229; Pilar Juliana Cayetano, 1,838; and Boots Anson-Roa, 1,764.