CAVITE, Philippines – Polling precincts across three municipalities and one city in Cavite opened early Saturday morning, February 25, as the province’s seventh district selects a new representative in Congress.

More than 300,000 registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots until 7 pm across 75 voting centers in the towns of Amadeo, Indang, and Tanza, and the city of Trece Martires.

The vote will determine the successor of the district’s former representative Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, who has vacated his congressional post after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. picked him as Department of Justice secretary in 2022.

Four aspirants are seeking to fill the open seat:

• Provincial Board Member Ping Remulla, the justice secretary’s son, under the National Unity Party
• Melencio Loyola de Sagun Jr., former Trece Martires mayor, independent
• Jose Angelito Domingo Aguinaldo, independent
• Michael Angelo Bautista Santos, independent

The Remullas are one of the most powerful political families in Cavite, with Governor Jonvic still controlling the seat of power in provincial hall. (READ: Political Dynasties 2022: Revillas now the largest in Cavite)

Since the polls are automated, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has deployed 426 vote-counting machines, which already underwent a final accuracy test a week before election day. The poll body did not report any glitches, except for paper jam in some machines.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia, a resident of Indang, cast his ballot on Saturday morning, and was scheduled to make the rounds to check the situation on the ground.

“Based on our initial assessment with the PNP, we have not monitored any untoward incident or problem. Based also on the monitoring of our operations center in Trece Martires, all polling precincts in the 7th district of Cavite functioned properly, and there have been no reports of malfunctioning vote-counting machines,” he told reporters in Filipino.

Canvassing boards from the municipal up to the provincial level will count the votes after the polls close at 7 pm, and official results are expected Sunday morning. – Rappler.com