Hundreds of Leni-Kiko volunteers to keep eye on Northern Mindanao’s polling places

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Organized volunteer workers of the Leni Robredo-Kiko Pangilinan tandem on Saturday, May 7, said they would deploy hundreds of volunteers throughout Northern Mindanao to protect the ballots cast for the Vice President and her ticket.

Anthony Requerme of the Robredo People’s Council in Northern Mindanao said the volunteers would keep an eye on the election precincts and ballots alongside church workers.

In Cagayan de Oro City alone, each polling center would be watched by four Robredo-Pangilinan ticket volunteers on Monday, election day, according to Quesa Gopez, convenor of the group CdO for Leni.

More than 600 Robredo-Pangilinan supporters in the city have volunteered to guard the election precincts, said Gopez.

Aside from that, each city and municipality in the region would have lawyers and paralegal volunteers, all working together for the ticket, according to Carl Rebuta, political officer for Northern Mindanao of the Robredo campaign.

Rebuta said it was the Lawyers for Leni in Northern Mindanao that organized groups of lawyers and paralegals “to protect the ballots.”

Lawyer Perfecto Mendoza said they were doing volunteer work because “we want to live in a just society where our rights are respected.”

Requerme said the network of volunteers was working to deliver at least 1.4 million votes for the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem in Northern Mindanao.

The group, he said, anticipated that many would switch sides in the Northern Mindanao provinces of Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental.

From 900,000 votes, Requerme said, they aim to reach at least 1.4 million, factoring in the number of “converts.”

But Requerme admitted that they were relatively weaker in the provinces of Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and Camiguin where local political leaders have endorsed other national candidates.

“We are only seeing 25% of the votes in these provinces, but we are still expecting last-minute conversions. We are going to make it up in Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental,” Requerme said. – Rappler.com