may 10, 2010. country's first ever automated elections.
i went to bangkal elementary school at around 9 am. i was listed at precint 0092-a, part of the clustered precint number 26. in school's 3rd floor, a very long queue greeted me. each voter needs to fall in line towards the waiting area to get a number, written on an orange piece of paper, so that they will get their chance to fall in line (again!) in front of the real voting area, where the pcos machines are located. all in all, it took me close to two hours to get my ballot. the voting itself took less than five minutes.
the clustering of polling precints ultimately bogged down the entire process. in the past, you just need to find your precint, get your number in the voter's list and get your ballot, write your choices. this time, comelec clustered around six to eight precints in one cluster, cramping hundrends and in some cases, even up to 2,500 voters in a single clustered precint. so even if you were in the polling center as early as 7 am, you still need at least an hour to complete the entire process. senior citizens were allowed to cast their votes ahead of others, but the problem was all people with a senior citizen was also allowed to vote before those who fall in line for hours. of course, comelec will say that there was not enough budget to get each precint a pcos machine, but they should have at least ensured that each cluster will only take care of less than 500 voters.
comelec should not have called this elections an automated one. the counting of votes is automated, but the entire process is still manual. BEIs will manually find your name from their lists and voters would still vote manually. of course, for the integrity of the results, automated counting is better because the results will be known at a much faster time. they say that the for local posts, proclamation of winning candidates can be done in 2 days and for national posts, it will only take 5 days to get the proclamations running. however, going into the polls this time was a major sacrifice, especially for those who still need to report for work even if it is holiday today. from my own precint, i already saw five to ten people going home due to the long queue. however, more citizens stood in line and waited for their chance to come face-to-face with the famed pcos machine. pinoy humor was evident. some of the people i was with in the queue were already telling us that this might get even longer and we just might finish after lunch! overall, i would say that the mood was that of excitement and eagerness in spite of the 2-hour queue.
i was little bit worried that my ballot will not be accepted by the pcos machine as some of my markings were seen at the back of the ballot. i think the paper that they used should have been thicker because the marker used is of pentel pen type. when the machine said "congratulations", i felt a huge relief. not only did i exercise my right to vote, it gave me the chance to contribute to the entire process of change in this country. after all, i'm one of the taxpayers who make the entire country work. my taxes went to buying these pcos machines and i just hope that my single precious vote will get counted properly and the 2010 polls will be credible.
mabuhay ang demokrasya. God bless the philippines.
i went to bangkal elementary school at around 9 am. i was listed at precint 0092-a, part of the clustered precint number 26. in school's 3rd floor, a very long queue greeted me. each voter needs to fall in line towards the waiting area to get a number, written on an orange piece of paper, so that they will get their chance to fall in line (again!) in front of the real voting area, where the pcos machines are located. all in all, it took me close to two hours to get my ballot. the voting itself took less than five minutes.
the clustering of polling precints ultimately bogged down the entire process. in the past, you just need to find your precint, get your number in the voter's list and get your ballot, write your choices. this time, comelec clustered around six to eight precints in one cluster, cramping hundrends and in some cases, even up to 2,500 voters in a single clustered precint. so even if you were in the polling center as early as 7 am, you still need at least an hour to complete the entire process. senior citizens were allowed to cast their votes ahead of others, but the problem was all people with a senior citizen was also allowed to vote before those who fall in line for hours. of course, comelec will say that there was not enough budget to get each precint a pcos machine, but they should have at least ensured that each cluster will only take care of less than 500 voters.
comelec should not have called this elections an automated one. the counting of votes is automated, but the entire process is still manual. BEIs will manually find your name from their lists and voters would still vote manually. of course, for the integrity of the results, automated counting is better because the results will be known at a much faster time. they say that the for local posts, proclamation of winning candidates can be done in 2 days and for national posts, it will only take 5 days to get the proclamations running. however, going into the polls this time was a major sacrifice, especially for those who still need to report for work even if it is holiday today. from my own precint, i already saw five to ten people going home due to the long queue. however, more citizens stood in line and waited for their chance to come face-to-face with the famed pcos machine. pinoy humor was evident. some of the people i was with in the queue were already telling us that this might get even longer and we just might finish after lunch! overall, i would say that the mood was that of excitement and eagerness in spite of the 2-hour queue.
i was little bit worried that my ballot will not be accepted by the pcos machine as some of my markings were seen at the back of the ballot. i think the paper that they used should have been thicker because the marker used is of pentel pen type. when the machine said "congratulations", i felt a huge relief. not only did i exercise my right to vote, it gave me the chance to contribute to the entire process of change in this country. after all, i'm one of the taxpayers who make the entire country work. my taxes went to buying these pcos machines and i just hope that my single precious vote will get counted properly and the 2010 polls will be credible.
mabuhay ang demokrasya. God bless the philippines.
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