The line that moves at an average of 5 people per 30 minutes. If there was fire, we would all be suffocated then dead in minutes.
To qualify lang, I was not able to vote the past elections for two reasons: a) I was previously registered at my hometown province (and I studied/live/work here in Manila), b) I was out of the country every time there is an election. The whole time, I diligently pay my real estate and income tax. So yun, on all days I live in this country, I have every right to comment on how it is being governed haha! Tulad now.
I made my decision at 2:00AM Monday morning on who to vote, I had 1 President, 1 Vice President, 5 senators, and I plan to just going to interview my queue-mates on who to vote for on the local positions. I no longer live in Makati but still paying tax there so I want to make sure the future of this city is more influenced by the people living there.
I woke up at 6:30AM and arrived at Pio del Pilar Elementary School around 8:00AM. I was out of the school at 12:35PM, after 4.5 hours of queue-ing. Hmm...what else did I do there...my initial plan was just to vote and make my day fulfilled, but I ended up as an unwanted pila-bantay, haha! I hate the whole process because there is no process. There are no people telling us where to go, where the line is to get to our rooms so we can vote. And given that there is no process, do I expect us Filipinos to discipline ourselves to just queue up? Hell, no. So there's this huge line to all rooms, and then there's this chaos on the other. Seriously!
So my control-freak self could no longer endure this shit. I was with 2 other fellow voters, standing as guard on the queue. As in, we were manning the pila, making sure no one made singit and explaining to every Makati residents trying the usual, "titingnan ko lang po sa taas.." with "wala po kayong makikita duon, sobrang masikip po duon, pila po tayo sa likod."
Sometimes I wonder how I just wanted to be a voter and I ended up as a pila-watcher.
"Bakit mo ako ayaw papasukin?"
"Pila po kasi, wala pong singitan"
And with all this, after every conversation with the principal, with every teacher that passed my way, with every person carrying an ID, I realized why the president who will win this and the other executive positions, will not be the solution to all of our issues. It has to start with us.
- Kung pedeng makasingit, sisingit. We only think of ourselves. Conversation with a senior citizen, a mom, who speaks English to me. I was next in line at the doorway of the room to vote. She was on the opposite line, the next senior citizen to vote. I was explaining my dissatisfaction about the process to the bantay and to the teacher. The mom told me, "There's nothing we can do, wag ka na magreklamo. Walang ring mangyayari. You should be glad you're next in line now". Appalled, I told her, "Okay po ako ngayon, after 4.5 hours andito na ako. Pero paano po yung mga tao sa likod natin?" She kept quiet. We only think of ourselves and we are too tolerant and too quiet to raise what does not work.
- There is no accountability. We always think we are victims and put the blame on someone else. When I kept asking, mind you, asking and not even complaining, if we can have a separate room to accommodate the precinct 443X and 444X (It has 950 registered voters, compared to other rooms which accommodates only 750 registered voters), Some voter on the queue stormed in, ranting already why it's taking so long for this room to process, as the line does not move at all. "Naintindihan ko po na civic duty natin lahat to, kayo magbantay, kami bumoto, pero po, aabutin po tayo ng gabi dito if ganito ang pagproseso natin". After the guy walked out, here goes the staff in the room: "Eh bakit ba kayo nagrereklamo samin, wala po kami may hawak dito, ang COMELEC, sa COMELEC kayo magreklamo." So whatever suggestions, however I explained it to the principal, she just smiled at me with a blank face. I thanked them and could understand their frustration. But seriously, here's my stand. Someone has got to take charge on-site to fix this mess at every precinct.
- Sometimes I wonder if we are made to be blind to inefficiencies. I stepped into the room and I already see what we can do to make it faster and it doesn't take a genius to know it. Even my queue-mate saw it. Even two people down the line saw it. And what's worse, while already putting a thumbmark, a teacher said, "Di ko nga alam bakit tayo daw may issue, eh mukhang maayos naman dito." I could not help but remark, "Ma'am, baka pede nyo na kunin ng ID ng katabi ko para ma-check ni Tita dyan sa listahan, kesa maghintay tayo matapos ako." I love the teachers, but I think, we maybe not training them enough for this.
- I don't know how to describe this conversation and I'll leave it as it is, my conversation inside the voting booth with a teacher.
Moi: Tita, so saan po ba pede i-report to, kasi po aabutin tayo ng gabi dito. Marami na po ang nag-give up, ayaw na bumoto.
Teacher: Bakit mo irereklamo?
Moi: Kulang po kasi ng staff, tingnan nyo, dalawang tao lang yung nag-poprocess and 950 registered voters po dito. Wala ng magawa ang principal nyo.
Teacher: Bakit ka magrereklamo, masama ba silang tao? Ginagawa naman nila ang dapat gawin ah!
If I could roll my eyes. This is so typical Filipino. We take everything personally. "Tita, hindi ko po sinasabi masama ang mga tao. Sinasabi ko po, di po tama ang proseso, at ang staffing. Yun po ang irereklamo natin."
You know what's a little bit sad? My queue-mate has voted at this precinct at this exact same room for 4 elections. She told me, this is her worst experience ever. Previously it just took her 30 minutes to vote. Now, almost 5 hours for her. Here are my humble suggestions:
- Assign someone who could boss around the poll-watchers, volunteers of COMELEC at every precinct -- assign a leader, assign the principal, assign some power and responsibility on how to manage the election, what the hell, assign a project manager. The poll-watchers were not exhausted enough, they all flocked to the voting assistance center, which was so overstaffed. I mean, an answer like, "Tanong nyo po sa COMELEC sa headquarters" is not sustainable, nor feasible on the day of the election when voters are already queue-ing up. Get orders from one person on-site and that person better know who are the staff.
- As voters, prepare. Have a codigo. Does it take 5 minutes really to color per position? Seriously? I'm not talking about senior citizens. For senior folks, provide assistance.
- On those logistics stuff for the voters, listahan and numbers, put it outside. Not on the hallways. It's a disaster waiting to happen.
- Anticipate the number, if there are 950 registered voters, imagine a scenario when they come in early in the morning. Do we have enough staff to manage this? How would that look like? Put in markers, "this way please to room XXX" "For precinct 443, the line starts here".
- Maximize the waiting. While inside the room, people are made to wait by sitting on the chairs. Why not bring the papers to sign and thumbs to mark to them? I could better draw this suggestion.
- A huge question: Why did COMELEC decrease the precincts from 300,000 to 76,000? May population implosion ba?
On the upside, I am happy and proud of my fellow Pinoy voters, at least the people I interacted with today. We shared our candidates and I'm happy most of them don't get swayed by popularity nor of surveys, nor of bloc-voting choices (where whole family votes for same person, for sheer reason of just following). I asked them why they vote these people, and they specifically told me the reasons. Amazing. I love intelligent voters. There is hope for this country.
I am infinitely proud I exercise my voting rights today. I almost gave up. As a first-time voter, it was the most tiring and frustrating yet the most fulfilling.






