By Mae Singuay

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Bacolod City assured voters there are no files that have been damaged as their office was affected by flashfloods brought by thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon, April 30.

Comelec-Bacolod elections officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña said the floodwaters entered their office which caused some voters’ files to get wet.

However, their office computers which stored voter’s registration files were safe and not affected by the flooding, she explained.

Caña said they are about to transfer the Comelec office as an inspection has been done already for the construction of the new building.

The office presently occupies a building owned by the local government unit.

In March of this year, the local Comelec office registered more than two million voters in Negros Occidental and Bacolod.

The capital city has the highest number of voters at 341,344.

Meanwhile, voters for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) election are at 663,455, with Bacolod registering the highest number of voters at 100,625.

The Barangay and SK elections will be held on October 30 of this year.

On Sunday afternoon, a sudden downpour triggered by localized thunderstorms caused flashfloods in Bacolod’s Barangay 16, the city public plaza and at the Reclamation Area, Anna Maria Pornan, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer, said.

The flashfloods affected several business establishments and residential areas.

The Comelec-Bacolod office is located beside the Bacolod Arts and Youth Sports Center on San Juan Street, which is adjacent to the Reclamation Area./MS, WDJ