Heat, long queues, tech glitches fail to deter Filipinos from voting

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — Jeepney driver Alberto Dakis didn’t mind that he had to wait for over two hours just to cast his vote for Philippine President. The sweltering heat brought on by the El Nino, the long queues in the polling centers, the misunderstandings over the voting process won’t keep Dakis from practicing his right to vote.

“If I don’t vote then all the hardship that I went through today will be useless,” Dakis said, adding that voting gives an ordinary citizen like him a say on how the country will be governed in the next six years and he is hoping that his choice for President will win in this year’s elections.

Dakay is just among the estimated 50.7 million voters who trooped Monday to thousands of polling centers nationwide to cast their votes not only for the next  President but also for Vice President, 12 senators, 287 congressmen and more than 17, 000 local officials.

This year’s national elections is perhaps among the country’s most historic if only because of its extensive coverage – nine candidates are vying for the Presidency alone.

The 90-day campaign period which ended Saturday saw candidates for the country’s highest elective post hurling accusations at each other while at the same time wooing millions of voters nationwide. Each candidate promised a new administration that will solve some of the country’s most pressing problems including corruption, poverty and hunger.

“This is the time for the poor people to be heard. This is the time that the poor will have a say on how to govern this country,” said Alfredo Pascual, lead convener of the Automated Election System (AES) Watch.

Pascual said this is why most of  voters like Dakay decided to wait, even for four hours, just to cast their ballots. Each voter is hoping that a new President will mean a change in the administration.

At a  polling center in Sampaloc, Manila, several voters just went home, frustrated with the long queue. “I’ll just go back later. The queue is too long,” said Erwin Alcober, a voter in Sampaloc who came in the polling precinct around noon.

“I can’t find the precinct where I’m supposed to vote,” said Mel, another voter, who has been going around the pollong place looking for the precinct  she’s supposed to vote.

CenPEG director for Policy Studies Bobby Tuazon said the mock polls conducted by the Commission on Elections failed to provide a real scenario of what would happen on election day.

“The election officials overestimated that their automation system would absorb all the registered voters in clustered precincts,” he said.

Kontra-Daya, another electoral watchdog, said the voting system was “poorly organized.”

“The situation is compounded by BEI members who were not aware of the contingency measures in case of malfunctioning PCOS machines Another aggravating factor is the reported lack of ability of  information technology consultants manning the polling centers,” Kontra-Daya said.

Comelec announced taht voting time will be extended by an hour, with polling centers closing at 7 p.m. This is because voting in some areas has been delayed due to technical glitches.

As of press time, it remains if the one-hour extension will encourage voters to wait longer.

Poll watcher Eugene Cose said he’s hoping to vote later when the queue is shorter. Cose lives in the depressed area of Parola compound in Tondo, which is home to over 12,000 voters. With 1,000 people voting in just one precinct, the queue in his precinct was  long, so he decided to just sit in the corner and chat with some friends while waiting for his turn to fill out his ballot.