Early ballots cast quitely as local absentee voting begins in palawan

Local Absentee Voting started on Sunday, April 28, 2025, across Palawan and the rest of the Philippines, giving members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), government workers, and media practitioners the chance to cast their votes early. The voting period runs until April 30, in time for them to carry out their duties on election day without losing their right to vote.

This year marks a quiet but notable shift. According to Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairperson Atty. George Erwin Garcia, this is the first time the Local Absentee Voting system is being automated. Though no vote-counting machines are present at the precincts themselves, voters’ ballots will be sealed in envelopes, stored securely, and later fed into machines at the COMELEC main office in Manila. All absentee ballots will be opened and processed together on the night of May 12.

In Palawan, the COMELEC has designated 24 polling precincts across Puerto Princesa City alone. Assigned precincts serve members of the police force, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Traffic Enforcer Unit, City Mobile Force Company, Tourist Police Unit, Puerto Princesa Forensic Unit, Tactical Operations Wing West (TOWWEST) of the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the city.

Beyond the capital, additional precincts have been established in the municipalities of Taytay, Quezon, Aborlan, Brooke’s Point, Rizal, Cuyo, Culion, Balabac, Linapacan, and the remote island of Cagayancillo—ensuring that even the most isolated government workers and uniformed personnel get a chance to participate.

For many of these early voters — soldiers, fire officers, traffic enforcers, and journalists — the absentee ballot is more than a logistical convenience. It’s a quiet assertion that their voices, like everyone else’s, count — even when duty calls elsewhere on election day.