Malls aren’t just for shopping

Eight malls whose owners have no political affiliation have qualified to be voting centers in the May 2016 elections.

The Commission on Elections had conducted a background check on the eight malls that expressed intention to serve as voting centers and the poll body confirmed that owners of these malls have no political affiliation and did not support any candidate in the past two elections.

These are Ayala Malls, Fisher Mall, Gaisano Grand Malls, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, Pacific Malls/Metro Gaisano, Robinsons Malls, SM Supermalls and WalterMart Community Malls.

The Comelec is not tapping malls associated with politicians like Gateway Mall owned by the family of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas and StarMalls owned by the family of Sen. Cynthia Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP).

The Omnibus Election Code stipulates that the mall owner should not be a candidate.

But members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are prohibited from participating in the planned mall-based voting. Even mall security guards are barred from going near the polling center to be established inside the malls, according to Bautista.

The Comelec will have direct control and supervision over the polling precints in the malls. -end-

Image by halalan2016.com