PHILIPPINE ELECTIONS
NATIONAL AND LOCAL
10 MAY 2010
This year's national and local elections must have been the most interesting electoral processes I have ever witnessed by far. It was not my first time to participate in one of the very essential events in the lives of all Filipinos such as 'elections' but this year caught me awed - I got excited in being able to cast a vote just as most of the first time voters felt. And this time, I voted really wisely by delicately choosing a prospect among the many candidates who sought for a seat in the government. I guess this year embarked grand changes in our country's history which made me feel so proud being a Filipino myself.
Changes? Yes, changes, indeed! Our elections processes used to have been performed by having the voters manually write all the names of the candidates they wished to position on certain seats for public service. Then, the voters folded the paper which contained their votes and then slipped it inside the ballot box. Once all of the required signatures had been affixed, a drop of an indelible ink was put onto their right index finger that thus signified they were done in voting and could never again cast a vote during the said elections. Voting-precincts were closed at 6:00 in the evening, under normal circumstances, and all of those votes were manually counted by the designated board of elections inspectors by presenting a tally on a chalkboard plus the duplicated tally in paper form. All tallied votes per precinct were submitted to a central-station which consolidated all of the votes in certain districts and regions. Usually it took a week or more than a week to finally conclude and declare those who won for national electorate positions. 
But this year's elections had been something new for everybody. Alas! from manual vote-counting to automated counting of votes. What used to be 5 or 6 precincts were now clustered into just 1 precinct which was assigned with one Smartmatic Voting Machine. What used to be just manual writing of names of the candidates was now a mere shading of circles associated to the names of the candidates. Once the voters were done in shading, the paper which contained their votes also contained a barcode that was machine-readable. All of the signing and using of an indelible ink were still part of the voting processes though. The voting machine first verified the legality of the paper containing all of the data/information, then a confirmation was given by this message, "Congratulations! Your vote has been registered." All of those registered votes were stored in Simcards pre-inserted in a Smartmatic Voting Machines. All those sims could automatically transmit all of the information to a centralized retrieving unit. And Voila! A tally of votes could be identified and disclosed immediately although with certain human and machine-related untoward errors, the final results may yet take about 2 to 3 days. See what I mean? Things have been made easier for all of us, thanks to the wonders of technology. Although since we were all neophytes to these changes, I could not deny that I personally witnessed how most of us got frustrated or dismayed with how the processes went on. Some complained how populated a precinct was (obviously, because 5-6 precincts were housed in one room and that meant at least about a thousand voters) which resulted to a 3-hour voters-queue for other areas; others got irritated at how often the voting machines shut off, bugged-down, and to certain extent never functioned at all: the major reason why everything went slow in terms of voting; I saw more than a couple of people walked out, decided to go back home without having casted a vote yet out of mere impatience.
I went to the voter's precinct at 8:00 AM, got served a voter's paper at 9:50AM and had done voting at 9:58AM. The sun's rays were excruciatingly burning our skins while we were out in the field, sweating, waiting in line for our turn to get into the precinct to vote, but well, I could sincerely say, it was all worth it!! Patience does have a price - the chance to air out my own sentiments as a citizen by casting my vote; MY VOTE DOES COUNT! Although the candidates I have voted may have not won their sought after posts, but I was one proud person for being able to earn the right to be called a FILIPINO. As they all say, one does not have the right to complain about what wrong was going on in their country if one does not participate in choosing the country's public servants at all.I SALUTE ALL OF THE TEACHERS WHO COMPRISED THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS INSPECTORS NATIONWIDE. I saw how they struggled to squeeze in a short break for having lunch and restroom break; and how they selflessly willed to last the very unpleasant precinct-environment: no A/C, no electric fan, irritated voters; also, they courageously faced all the threats involved in holding the 'elections' in their respective precincts. GODBLESS YOU! GODBLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
May 11, 2010 at 7:55 AM
indeed it was history in the making and you're part of that history...