Voting bloc

WHILE RESIDENTS debate whether to open new gates at Ayala Alabang Village, the plot has thickened as the nomination and election committee (Nomelec) that drafted the rules for such a process disavowed the referendum scheduled by the village association (AAVA) board for Sept. 20.

In a Sept. 14 letter sent to the AAVA board, Nomelec chair Sabino Jose Padilla III said no referendum could be held on Sunday, citing “due process and time constraints.”

He added that Nomelec would not participate should the referendum take place.

Padilla said the association board resolution that called for such referendum was “without the knowledge, participation and consent of the Nomelec,” even as the body took into consideration a petition from 106 homeowners to open additional gates in the village.

To recall, those advocating the opening of more gates in Ayala Alabang back the referendum to prove that the majority of residents stand behind the need to open more gates. The main rationale cited was the need to decongest traffic which, they claimed, had become a “life and death” situation in the village, which had fewer gates than many of the smaller upscale villages in the metropolis.