Gibo Teodoro votes in Tarlac

Administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro cast his vote in Carabaoan-Caocaoayan Elementary School here at 9 a.m.

Arriving via a helicopter at the farm community here, Teodoro was greeted by supporters and townmates.

Teodoro walked past the long queue and immediately entered Precinct 25. He was accompanied by his wife Congresswoman Nikki Prieto-Teodoro and his son.

The election supervisors said VIPs did not need to line up.

The standard-bearer of Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats has lagged behind in the surveys but he has kept his hopes high about the outcome.

There is only one PCOS machine in the precinct for some 500 voters.

A total of 498 people are expected to cast their votes in this two-building, single-story school.

Voting started at around 7 a.m.

At 84, Cecilia Candelario is the oldest voter in the precinct. She said she has been a voter in the barangay (village) since she was 18.

It took about 10 minutes before Candelario completed the voting process.

She said voting this time was "mahirap [difficult]" because the ovals to be shaded were too small.

"It's hard to shade the oval," she said in Filipino.

Candelario said a relative assisted her in voting.

She said she voted for Teodoro, too, because he was "mabuti [a good person]."

Gaudencio Manuel, 50, lamented that his ballot was considered spoiled because of the blot caused by the ink in the Comelec's marker.

Mario Sobiate, 56, the first voter in the precinct, said it took him only five minutes to cast his vote using the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine.