Filipinos Breathe a Sigh of Relief as Voting Ends Peacefully : Elections: Widespread violence fails to materialize. But the real drama, counting the ballots, now begins.

Volunteer poll watcher Camilo Mendigorin smiled with obvious relief after the classroom bell in the Cayetano Topacio Elementary School rang at precisely 3 p.m. Monday signaling the close of a remarkable day of voting in an area notorious for election-day violence.

“Our expectations were all wrong,” he said happily. “The election is very peaceful.”

Despite widespread fears of intimidation and fraud, initial reports from across the Philippines indicated only administrative glitches, minor cheating and five shooting deaths as voters selected a new president, vice president, Congress and more than 17,000 provincial and local officials. Early returns indicated a 75% to 85% turnout in the largest elections in Philippine history.

“We’ve proven we can conduct free, honest, orderly and credible elections,” Christian Monsod, chairman of the national Commission of Elections, announced at an evening press conference in Manila.

But if the prelude was peaceful, the real drama is to come. Although counting began immediately, it could take between two days and two weeks to tabulate the millions of handwritten ballots, each with up to 44 names, from 170,354 precincts. And Monsod appealed for vigilance to prevent tampering in the cumbersome counting ahead, especially if races are tight.

“Everything is not yet over until the winners are proclaimed,” he warned. He added, however, that there is “absolutely no chance” that court challenges or other problems could delay the proclamation of the next president when the new Congress convenes May 25.

A nationwide exit poll of 1,860 voters by the Reuters news agency indicated that former defense chief Fidel V. Ramos and ex-Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago were neck and neck in the presidential race. According to the poll, Ramos, who is endorsed by outgoing President Corazon Aquino, had 24.5% of the vote, while Santiago, who has crusaded against graft and corruption, had 22.7%.

Trailing, but within striking range, were business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., former Senate President Jovito Salonga and Speaker of the House Ramon Mitra. Far behind were Aquino’s estranged vice president, Salvador Laurel, and former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who spent part of the day praying in Manila’s San Agustin Church before a neon-lit shrine to “Our Lady of Consolation.”

The lack of tension surprised many here in Cavite province, south of Manila, an area infamous for warlord politics and electoral violence. In March, the mayor, police chief and two bodyguards were shot 88 times in front of the City Hall in Ternate. And Friday, the election commission warned that it had disbanded a rogue unit of 84 heavily armed national police found roaming the province and threatening local election officials.

Although rumors flew fast and furious, all was quiet Monday in Cavite.

“It is all very orderly,” said Soledad Pilpil, head teacher at the Sabang Elementary School in Naic, where several dozen voters waited patiently in the steamy tropical heat to vote in 2-foot-high cardboard “booths” tacked to the classroom desks. “No goons, no guns.”

There was money, however. Rosendo Oriendo, a poll watcher at the Ternate Central Elementary School, said Cojuangco’s local campaign chiefs had paid $8 to $20 for “poll workers.” But another Cojuangco poll watcher said with a laugh that he had voted for Salonga, anyway.

To prevent cheating, poll watchers from the seven parties were assigned to each classroom. Each voter’s forefinger was marked with indelible blue ink to prevent repeat voting. The newly designed ballot boxes had a glass panel to ensure that they were not pre-stuffed.

Because voters had to write each candidate’s name on the 18-inch-long ballot, they were encouraged to bring sample ballots. Just in case, typed lists of the national candidates were tacked inside each booth. Next to each name was a space for “nickname/stage name.” Only one of 163 people running for the 24 Senate seats didn’t have one. Others Senate candidates used monikers like “Suspenders Frank,” “Doc Abe” and “Stateside.”

The most common problem was voters who were not allowed to cast ballots because their names were not on registration lists. It wasn’t immediately clear if the names had been deliberately removed or if honest mistakes and inefficiency had taken their toll.

In Ternate, Rosie Velasco, who was running to succeed her slain husband as mayor, charged that a new voter list had been substituted to eliminate her supporters.

“There’s a deliberate and concerted action on the part of our opponents by deleting names of our supporters,” said her lawyer, Nick Martelino.

“I want to vote,” complained Vivian Ramos, 22, one of nine people unable to vote at the Parang Elementary School.

But election officials insisted that all registered voters were carefully accounted for in three separate books. “If they do not have their names on the list, they cannot vote,” said Jocelyn Villanueva, Ternate’s election supervisor. “The problem is they have not registered.”

In Rosario, poll watchers complained that eight precincts were crowded into four classrooms. But election supervisor Violeta Belmes said they would be moved to avoid confusion during counting. And a rumored murder, she said, was simply a local barrio captain who had died of a heart attack.

In Bacoor, which has 508 precincts, the only reported problem was a teacher who lost the key to a ballot box. “So they will break the lock” under poll watchers’ supervision, said supervisor Jose Landas Jr.

As voting ended in Imus, the teachers carefully unlocked the ballot boxes and then unfolded and slowly counted the votes. Each name was called and tallied on giant sheets of brown paper tacked to the wall. The teachers were to fill out a separate list and distribute seven carbon copies: one each for Manila, accredited poll watchers and a media representative.

If all goes according to plan, the teachers will travel under armed police guard to local municipal halls with the ballots and a copy of the certificate of canvas. The certificates then go to provincial capitals to be tallied.

Finally, 93 certificates--one each from the 73 provinces, 11 cities and nine districts of Manila--will be tallied in Manila. Officials hope the distribution of certificates to so many people at so many levels will help prevent fudging numbers, substituting fake returns or other cheating.

Not everyone is convinced, however.

“People are scared,” said poll watcher Ledwina Cabana, 29, pulling a reporter aside at the Parang Elementary School. “I am scared too. Of the counting. They will steal our votes.”