The whole family was up by 5am as we were all raring to vote. We got to the school by 6:30am and noticed there weren't many people there yet. I got priority number 17, so that's not so bad, I was still included in Batch 1.
By 7:30am, our batch was called inside the room and I felt relieved because I thought we didn't have to wait that long. Apparently, we still had to wait until the teachers brought out the ballots from its sealed box, while the pollwatchers, well, watched. Voting was supposed to start by 7am but the teachers had to wait for the pollwatchers (each political party sends its own pollwatcher/s to every precinct) before they open the ballots. This already irritated some of us, because isn't it their duty to come in earlier than the voters and all the preparation should have been done before any of us got there? My dad says sometimes it's their tactic- to come in late, which subsequently delays the start of voting. Nice.
But this was still tolerable. After a few minutes, Voter #1 was already called. It took the teacher-in-charge (who I'll refer to as T1 from now on) several minutes to give her the ballot. Same thing happened with the next 3 voters. Thirty minutes have passed, and only 5 people have been given ballots! And, once a voter is done, it's still T1 who assists him in feeding his ballot to the machine. A few people (mainly members of my family, hehe) voiced out their protest to this very inefficient process. I mean, why would it take several minutes to hand out a blank ballot? And why are the other teachers not doing anything?! Their answer? It's the COMELEC's process, T1 is the only one who can go near the PCOS machine. T1 even retorted, we have different lists to check as you belong to different precincts so "di na madali-dali" (this can't be rushed). Pardon my French, but WTF?!
Then, to make matters worse, the lovely teachers decided to prioritize the senior citizen voters. (I'm sorry, I love teachers, but this is one instance where I think their common sense was thrown out the window) Once a voter from our batch is done, they let one senior citizen in. This delayed handing out of the ballots even more. This is in no way to disrespect our elders, but I just think this is not fair. We have made an effort to come in really early so that we can finish early, shouldn't the 'first come first served' rule apply here? It's not as if the people they called in were ailing. My mom blew her top when an elderly couple (of good health, mind you. They just had the good fortune of being 60 years old) was let in, even after we complained of the long wait. She said that if they were really prioritizing senior citizens, why didn't they let the old man included in our batch go before all of us. He was older than they are and was even having a hard time walking.
Amidst all the chaos, the school principal (I think) finally stepped in and told T1 to just hand out the blank ballots and she also asked one of the other teachers to help in checking the voters' names on the list to speed things up. This caused everyone in the room to applaud. In hindsight though, I think that handing out the ballot prior to checking a person's name on the voters' list is a bad idea. What if, after feeding the ballot to the machine and getting a confirmation that your vote has been counted, your name is not on the list? Would it invalidate the rest of the votes?
Anyway, I finally got to vote and was finished by 8:30am. It took me a mere 5 minutes of the whole 2-hour ordeal to shade the 'bilog na hugis itlog' beside my candidates' names. Now I understand why some people get frustrated and just opt not to vote. The heat, the waiting, confusion and chaos are probably too much to take. But for me, after all I've been through, I would still gladly do it all over again. I think this is just a small sacrifice that every Filipino should make to show one's love for our country.
And oh, before I forget, this is my First Thing # 13. It's my first time participating in an automated election, and my first time voting in Cebu.
By 7:30am, our batch was called inside the room and I felt relieved because I thought we didn't have to wait that long. Apparently, we still had to wait until the teachers brought out the ballots from its sealed box, while the pollwatchers, well, watched. Voting was supposed to start by 7am but the teachers had to wait for the pollwatchers (each political party sends its own pollwatcher/s to every precinct) before they open the ballots. This already irritated some of us, because isn't it their duty to come in earlier than the voters and all the preparation should have been done before any of us got there? My dad says sometimes it's their tactic- to come in late, which subsequently delays the start of voting. Nice.
But this was still tolerable. After a few minutes, Voter #1 was already called. It took the teacher-in-charge (who I'll refer to as T1 from now on) several minutes to give her the ballot. Same thing happened with the next 3 voters. Thirty minutes have passed, and only 5 people have been given ballots! And, once a voter is done, it's still T1 who assists him in feeding his ballot to the machine. A few people (mainly members of my family, hehe) voiced out their protest to this very inefficient process. I mean, why would it take several minutes to hand out a blank ballot? And why are the other teachers not doing anything?! Their answer? It's the COMELEC's process, T1 is the only one who can go near the PCOS machine. T1 even retorted, we have different lists to check as you belong to different precincts so "di na madali-dali" (this can't be rushed). Pardon my French, but WTF?!
Then, to make matters worse, the lovely teachers decided to prioritize the senior citizen voters. (I'm sorry, I love teachers, but this is one instance where I think their common sense was thrown out the window) Once a voter from our batch is done, they let one senior citizen in. This delayed handing out of the ballots even more. This is in no way to disrespect our elders, but I just think this is not fair. We have made an effort to come in really early so that we can finish early, shouldn't the 'first come first served' rule apply here? It's not as if the people they called in were ailing. My mom blew her top when an elderly couple (of good health, mind you. They just had the good fortune of being 60 years old) was let in, even after we complained of the long wait. She said that if they were really prioritizing senior citizens, why didn't they let the old man included in our batch go before all of us. He was older than they are and was even having a hard time walking.
Amidst all the chaos, the school principal (I think) finally stepped in and told T1 to just hand out the blank ballots and she also asked one of the other teachers to help in checking the voters' names on the list to speed things up. This caused everyone in the room to applaud. In hindsight though, I think that handing out the ballot prior to checking a person's name on the voters' list is a bad idea. What if, after feeding the ballot to the machine and getting a confirmation that your vote has been counted, your name is not on the list? Would it invalidate the rest of the votes?
Anyway, I finally got to vote and was finished by 8:30am. It took me a mere 5 minutes of the whole 2-hour ordeal to shade the 'bilog na hugis itlog' beside my candidates' names. Now I understand why some people get frustrated and just opt not to vote. The heat, the waiting, confusion and chaos are probably too much to take. But for me, after all I've been through, I would still gladly do it all over again. I think this is just a small sacrifice that every Filipino should make to show one's love for our country.
And oh, before I forget, this is my First Thing # 13. It's my first time participating in an automated election, and my first time voting in Cebu.
Hehehe...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you ever heard about yummy-cebu.com? I hear they just finished a new contest called Mama's day out!
daisy mae!!! i am sooo glad i stumbled upon your blog. i am following it now. =)
ReplyDeletehaaay, i have read from facebook status messages that some of them waited 3-4 hours! =( i am still at home and yeah it makes me wonder if i will vote. =(
but i got to, I have to vote for #89, Ang LADLAD. hehehe
Congratulations Dais! Another first... That's something I still haven't done so it's good to read your blog coz it feels as if you have just walked me through it hehe.. I didn't get to register at the Embassy here so also no absentee voting for me.. :-( Maybe in the next election.. I hope to do it before my citizenship changes... but oh no, maybe it's too late. I should have thought of it the moment I got here (checked the process and all)... Oh well..
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks Niel! =) Too bad you didn't see your name on the voters' list! Did you check the COMELEC site? Yeah, I already consider myself lucky for waiting under 2 hours. =P
ReplyDeleteYen, I think I just walked you through the hell of it. =P It wasn't this disorganized when I voted the first time. I don't blame the government on this one, I think it's just the lack of preparation and absence of organization skills of the people in charge. Although, there was news of several machines not working all over the country, so we don't know what's gonna happen next. I don't think you'll be able to try out absentee voting ever. I'm sure you'll be a German citizen by the next elections =)