3 years ago I wrote a blog entitled “How clean is the 2007 Philippine Election?” and today I am asking the same question. How different would this election be from the last one? From a technophile’s point of view, I am expecting voters to face numerous and varied obstacles from machines malfunctioning, long winding queues at precincts and even violence in some areas.
I woke up and drank my coffee early today so that I can vote early and avoid the long queue. The first thing I noticed was that there was no electricity in the house. How could there be a brownout on the first Automated Election day?! If NORECO can prevent during a “Many Pacquiao” fight why couldn’t they do it today? Then as I left the house I was surprised to see campaign leaflets scattered along the streets which ran from my house to my precinct about 7 kilometers. What an eye sore and waste of money! Why would candidates or supporters throw garbage all over the city? Do they actually think that this is an effective campaign strategy?
So I arrived at the precinct around 6:30am. I did not have any difficulties finding my precinct since I already new my precinct number. People were ranting and scrambling looking for their names. Some people were all standing by the door waiting for the voting to start. So the voting started at exactly 7am and I was able to cast my vote at 7:35am, the PCOS machines showed 9 votes casted! So is that 18 votes in an hour? Anyway, I already could imagine how the rest of the day would be.
After voting I drove around the city and took some photos and headed straight home. I could only hope for a clean and honest successful automated election. God Bless Dumaguete.
