Where's Our Polling Precinct?

My wife took her time to relax a bit sitting on a conrete bench under the shade of a small mango tree. I left her for my turn in looking for the precinct number where we were assigned to vote. I first tried to find my luck at the polling precincts nearest to where we were, but our names were not included in the roster. So, I had to ask one of the poll watchers for the precinct number where residents of Kingsville Subdivision are assigned. The poll watcher gave me 557 to 565, or eight assigned rooms as I thought. I tried to look for these numbers randomly as I moved from one building to the other.

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At last, Room #560 caught my eyes! I thought I was already there. My next move would be to look for 557 in that building opting my search from the lowest. Unfortunately, the lowest number registered in that particular building was number 559, going up with letters A, B, nd C. Oh my God! This means that if I have to go over the list of voters in each room, my name search for the twenty four rooms would considerably be a cumbersome job. This is not a joke either! But then, I tried to pacify my inner self to just carry on with this kind of an ordeal. Anyway, the right to vote is an exercise that is really taxing much of the voters' time and efforts. One has to offer a bit of this kind of sacrifice to avail of this right, a democratic right that would spell the future course of one's country.

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I started looking our names in the list starting at Room 559A. The names of our nephews and neices were there in the list but mine and my wife's were not. So I had to proceed from one room to the other hoping to find our names. I went as far as 565, the last polling precinct number in that building. But our names were still not in the lists. How unlucky I was then! Were our names already belong to the disenfranchised ones? Hope we are not! Where are the room numbers 557 to 558 located? I was quite sure our names must be there. I had to hop to the nearer buildings hoping to find these remaining precinct numbers. Then I went to the other, but to no avail. A feeling of exhaustion now crept into my mind wanting to surrender my search for this right to vote. I could have gone back to where I left my wife and pitched her up for home. That would be much easier. But then I have to let my positive mind always control the situation. Anyway, I was already in the playing field if one considers voting as a game. Oh yes it is but a game as everything in this world is but a game. Am I right? One really has to go for extra miles in order to win.

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Then, I had to approach again another poll watcher to give me some clue for my search. What I saw was a woman in her middle age, quite snobbish-looking and wearing the uniform of a poll watcher. I was hesitant at first to approach her. But then I found no choice at the moment. I had to shorten this cumbersome search thinking about my wife I left under the mango tree. So, I asked her politely to help me out and assist me look for my precinct number. I asked her for the location of precinct numbers 557 to 558. She looked at her map and directed me the place. My impression with her went wrong when I saw her nice reactions with me. I saw her as a nice and humble woman who volunteered as one of the poll watchers assigned to help make this election peaceful and orderly. What a heroic mission indeed! Not only did she directed me to the place but she also personally led me to a small building in the vicinity which was not so conspicuous from the main patio of the school campus. I could not have found this building alone! More so, she helped me locate my name in the list. With all the simple services she rendered to me that moment, the VIP treatment should I say, the feeling of exhaustion I had then were all gone. It was seemingly replaced with a sign of relief with my high regard to this unknown living hero. At last, my name and my wife's were assigned at precinct number 557A. I thanked the woman which she quickly appreciated with a smile.

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My thought went further with my sense of admiration for this woman. If only all of the poll watchers were like that of the woman I just met that moment, certainly the conduct of elections in this country battered always with anomalies would be as orderly and peaceful that one could expect.

At the Entrance Gate

The passenger jeep we took crawled along Sumulong Highway as the traffic was building up towards the polling place. It moved in a snail-pace fashion with so many people walking along the sidewalks going towards Mayamot Public School. The distance from where we were was still about fifty meters. A fair walking distance! I could have alighted already from the jeep and walked with the crowd towards the polling place should my wife were not with me. I could not help but imagine how she would feel walking along the crowded sidewalk given her health condition. Certainly, it would be an ordeal on her part. So, we opted to remain inside the passenger jeep while taking some glances at the different faces of the crowd outside.

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While still inside the jeep, we noticed the noise of the crowd increasing in decibels as we moved closer to the polling area. The place as a keen observer would notice was a semblance of a public market with supporters of the different candidates trying to distribute sample ballots to voters for the last minute. We saw different sample ballots scattered all over the street and sidewalk laying bare over the pavement trampled by the moving crowd as if signalling the voters that this is now the right time to decide who. A white carpet welcome! What a waste of money then.

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At last we arrived at the gate of the public school! I took turn to alight first to assist my wife. She was feeling not comfortable with the crowds everywhere in the place and the increasing heat of the morning sun. It was almost 9:00AM and the heat of summer was still in its toll. I knew then that the athmosphere and the crowd were all that my wife snobbed ever since she had the heart ailment. She always tries to avoid this kind of a situation if only she could. But then this time we had to exercise our right and for that cause we had to brave whatever hindrances that might come along. I knew this was all inside her mind also.

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I held her arm while we managed to squirt ourselves into the dense crowd. Slowly we moved on as we took the four-step entrance stair. The stair could have been climbed in just a few seconds, but in our case it took us almost three minutes. When we were up in the landing, I took my wife at the side of it for her to take some rest. I saw her gasping a bit, a sign that she was not that comfortable. I took the small white towel we brought to wipe the drops of sweat flowing from her forehead and started giving her some air using the fan handed to us by one of the campaigners outside. The paper fan portays a picture of one of the senatorial candidates on one side. On the flip side was the complete lineup of senatorial candidates of his party. What an idea! At least the fan helped us while away the heat we experienced that time. Then my thoughts went further as if in trance. Could these people help cool down the heads of the senate when they are elected in office? Is it not cooler heads that we need to make our country move on towards fulfilling the noble mission of attaining our economic goals? Of giving the Filipino people a sense of confidence and security? Of reducing poverty down to negligeble level.

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On Our Way to Vote...

It was almost eight o’clock in the morning when we finished taking our breakfast. We had to be in the polling precinct earlier to avoid the crowd of voters. So I took on my wheels with my wife and proceeded driving towards Mayamot Public School where we are one of the tens of thousand registered voters in the area.

Mayamot Public School is just less than a kilometer from where we left at Kingsville Court. It is the only public school in this barangay that serves as polling place during election periods. With an area of barely a hectare, it accommodates about ten medium sized two-storey school buildings of twelve classrooms each. There are also several single storey buildings with four classrooms each. Each classroom is used as a polling precinct during election periods. Hence, this public school is a host of more than a hundred precincts for all registered voters in the area. With an average of about two hundred voters per precinct one could imagine the horde of people going into that place from 7:00AM up to 3:00PM.

At 8:15AM we were now driving along the stretch of Sumulong Highway where Mayamot Public School is located. But then, before we crossed the intersection of Marcos Highway near Masinag Public Market vehicles were already piling up a long line waiting for the traffic signal to reverse to green. There was a hell of a bumper-to-bumper traffic waiting to take turn crossing the Marcos Highway intersection. It took us four stops or about twenty minutes before we were able to cross that intersection.

I decided to park my car at the Masinag Public Market parking lot. Heavy traffic near the polling place could be just as terrible and would not in a way help us avoid the heat outside. I was quiet lucky for having one slot left to park. When we were already outside the car we felt the air begun to increase in degrees for it was about 8:35 in the morning. I was concerned with my wife’s ailment. Could she be able to manage to brave the heat of the sun up to the polling precinct?

We took a passenger jeep heading for Marikina. Its regular route passes along Mayamot Public School that is located less than a hundred meters away from Masinag Public Market. While on board several campaign errands of the candidates were distributing sample ballots to each of the passengers inside. We tried to have the last glimpse of the candidates in the lists. In reality, we totally don’t have any idea of the candidates vying for local elective posts from Municipal Mayor down to the Municipal Councilors! We really don’t know who these candidates are! And now we were already there heading ourselves towards the polling precinct in the guise of exercising our rights with almost nothing in our minds. Would it justify our cause of electing credible candidates? What a petty concern in us on who would be the next and the most deserving officials to take the stewardship of the different local posts or offices! In our case, we went our way to elect the candidates in national level, the principled Senators who could withstand the rigors in crafting some amendments of our laws of national interest.

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We Are Set to Go...

It was a good day indeed having out of the election precincts with my wife before lunchtime. That was Monday, May 14, 2007 at 10:30 in the morning.

As early at 6:30 in the morning I was already out of my bed to face the new day after having done my morning rituals. My first priority for that day was to cast my ballot. My wife and I planned this task in that evening while in bed before we went to sleep. When I went out of my room that morning my wife was still lying half awake (not naked please). I presumed she was not interested to vote this time not only because she knew nothing about the candidates with good credentials but also because of the hassles in looking for the precinct where we are assigned. Besides, the hot air outside at 28C and the sweating crowd of voters were so discouraging that one has to have a good patience in maneuvering oneself moving around that crowded place looking for one's precinct. We had been experiencing this kind of a situation during the previous elections that my wife is again sighed off because of her heart ailment (an angioplasty patient 3 yrs. ago).

I am so thankful of our caring housemaid, Maricel who always wakes up earlier than I. I saw the table now all ready for breakfast that morning. It was already almost seven when I looked at the wall clock. I went back to my room to wake my wife up but then she was already out of bed and did her morning ritual too inside the master's T&B. I took turn changing my clothes, a sports T-shirt, a pair of short pants, and a pair of cheap rubber shoes. When I was almost finish grooming myself my wife came out of the bathroom. "Matrapik ngayon at mahirap magparking, dadalhin ba natin ang sasakyan?", she asked. Oh my God, I was at least assured that my wife would now go with me to the polling precinct to cast her vote also. At least her vote could now be counted!

We took our breakfast together while watching the Poll Watch programs in local TV Networks. It was already 7:30 AM. Election hot spots were thoroughly covered in the news. Nothing violent was covered and it meant quite a relief compared with the past elections. Situations in several polling precincts were also flashed in their programs. Wow, voting had already started in most of the precincts covered. However there were precincts still closed because election paraphernalia were still nowhere in the area. But TV viewers could see voters already piling in line for the seasonal exercise (once in every three sumners?). What an exercise! The coverage that impressed me most was how GMA voted in Lubao, San Fernando, Pampanga. I just couldn't imagine what time GMA woke up in Malacanang that morning that she could be in her polling precinct on the dot, 8:00AM! Or was she sleepless that night thinking about how her candidates could brace well strong enough to win in the election? Or did she had the thought of grabbing her cell phone later and say, "Hello Ben!"

What's more interesting in the news was when I saw GMA falling in line with the other voters waiting for her turn. At least she portrays a good example of a learner from the teachings of her own daughter Loli who once reprimanded a retirable custom official at NAIA for giving a favor to a foreigner who wanted to avoid the queue. It's good for GMA to practice modestly our Filipino culture as well as obey the Philippine laws. Otherwise, she will be out without a retirement pay also.

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