Philippine Consulate in NY receives Eleksyon 2022 VCMS, paraphernalia after delay

The Philippine Consulate General in New York finally received on Monday the vote counting machines (VCMs) and other election paraphernalia to be used in Eleksyon 2022.

"After encountering some delays, VCMs and other paraphernalia for the 2022 elections have finally arrived at @PHinNewYork,"
Consul General Elmer Cato said on Twitter.

Aside from VCMs, official ballots were among the materials received by the Consulate.

"As promised, we will start the process of getting the ballots to overseas voters in the US northeast as early as later this afternoon," Cato added.

"Tonight, we will be sending out the first batch of overseas ballots that would allow qualified kababayan in New York and other parts of the United States Northeast to participate in the 2022 national elections in the Philippines," the Consulate wrote in a post on Facebook.

The first 50 election packets were already sent out on Monday night (New York time) for delivery to registered voters within the next few days.

Cato advised voters based in New York City to personally bring their ballots to the Consulate for faster processing.

Meanwhile, starting Monday, employees at the Consulate are on 24-hour duty to ensure that all official ballots will be sent out to areas under its jurisdiction.

The overseas absentee voting (OAV) was supposed to start on Sunday, April 10, but registered Filipino voters in northeast US were not able to vote then.

This was due to the delay in the shipment of VCMs, official ballots and election paraphernalia to be used for the OAV.

Affected were registered Filipino voters in:

• New York;
• New Jersey;
• Boston, Massachusetts;
• Connecticut;
• Pennsylvania;
• Main;
• Vermont;
• Rhode Island;
• New Hampshire;
• Delaware; and
• Maryland.

Some members of the Filipino-American community as well as militant groups expressed outrage at the delay in the OAV.

Cato however said the problem was with the shipper and not the Consulate.

He added that Filipinos need not worry because they will ensure that elections will be clean, orderly, and credible in areas under the jurisdiction of the Consulate.

Despite the delay, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has no plans to extend the OAV in northeast US and other areas.

Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said in a Zoom town hall organized by the Philippine Consulate General in New York that there are enough days for voters to send in their ballots. —With a report from Dave Llavanes Jr./KG, GMA News