MANILA (2nd UPDATE) — Reports of faulty vote counting machines used for Monday's national elections are not cause for alarm yet, a poll watchdog said.

Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting national chairperson Myla Villanueva called on voters to be patient despite long queues in some polling precincts.

"Well, as in the past election, the VCM issues are arising. But we have to remember that these are computing systems," she told reporters at the PPCRV's command center at the University of Santo Tomas' Quadricentennial Pavilion.

"There will always be a certain percentage that will break down, but it's not yet of an alarming level. But we are monitoring very closely," she added.

PPCRV: Reports of faulty VCMs not yet of an alarming level @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/wkwtQVVCPA

— Davinci Maru (@davinci_maru) May 9, 2022

As of 10 a.m., over 81,000 VCMs were reported as operational, said Dr. William Yu, trustee and IT lead of PPCRV. At least 51 VMCs were deemed "defective", while 102 SD cards were deemed for "replacement," he added.

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Villanueva, who went around select polling precincts in Metro Manila Monday morning, said the voter turnout so far for this year's election is "quite good".

"The lines are very long in certain places, which means the turnout is quite good for us as a country," she said. "But we really do hope that the afternoon continue to be peaceful as we've seen in the morning."

She said authorities are still verifying if reports of fatalities in some areas are election-related.

NAMFREL: 'SMOOTH, PEACEFUL' POLLS SO FAR

Another poll watchdog, the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), said in its initial report that so far, the May 9 polls have been "smooth and peaceful" so far.

"The conduct of the elections has been smooth and peaceful so far, with most polling places opening on time, no significant delay in the start of voting, with the electoral boards as well as the machines and election paraphernalia complete in most polling places observed," NAMFREL said in a statement.

The watchdog noted that on Monday morning, there was a "high turnout of voters" especially in urban areas.

This turnout, it said, may have overwhelmed some polling precincts. As a result, COVID-19 health protocols were not observed. The face mask and physical distancing policies were not implemented properly, and voters' temperatures were not checked, said the watchdog.

KONTRA DAYA FLAGS DISINFORMATION, RED TAGGING IN POLLS

Meanwhile, another poll watchdog noted that the first 7 hours of voting were "marred with disinformation, red-tagging, malfunctioning vote counting machines, and disenfranchisement."

Kontra Daya said that 20 percent of the reports they received were about VCM errors.

Other reports include vote buying (14.3 percent), election process (10.1 percent), disinformation (10.1 percent) and black propaganda (9.2 percent).

The watchdog also noted red-tagging incidents in Angeles City, Mandaue City, Pasig City, and Quezon City. Posters linking some progressive groups to the communist movement were distributed in these places, Kontra Daya said.

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Bookmark the ABS-CBN News Halalan results page to see the partial unofficial tally of election returns.

For other updates, visit ABS-CBN News' live blog here.

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