Indelible: Chronicles of my Election Adventures
For the 5th time in my life, I voted in the 2007 senatorial and local elections. Since registering as a voter in 1994, I haven't missed exercising my right to vote. (Come to think of it, I have actually voted seven times because I did vote in the barangay elections in 2002 as well as the recall elections in Caloocan...)
This time was different altogether because I made a decision to help my friend who is running for the position of congressman in our district. As early as last year, I was already giving him advice on election related matters and this went on until the early part of the year - from the details that he should include in his certificate of candidacy, to the correct size of his campaign posters. For several months before the elections, I would carry around with me my compilation of election reading materials - the law, the handy outlines and the current resolutions of the Commission on Elections, ready to answer my candidate's questions anytime. Not only that, I asked around for help from friends who have done actual election work (as I had never actually done it since I was not yet a lawyer in 2001, and I was a government employee in 2004). Some friends we indifferent but I did found friends who were so eager and willing to help - thank God for them. I met with my candidate's other legal adviser-friends and shortly organized a legal team. I was pointed to his campaign coordinators and I quickly started working with them. I learned how many registered voters were there in our district, the number of voting centers (the schools), the number of barangays, and the number of precincts (classrooms where the voters actually vote).
My candidate had five opponents, though later on we found out that there is a sixth candidate who used to be a friend of my candidate who had an ax to grind against him. It was rumored that he was paid to file his certificate of candidacy and that there were plans to have him substituted by someone who had the same surname as my candidate, ala Alan Peter Cayetano and Joselito "Peter" Cayetano. Under Philippine election laws, a candidate may withdraw and be substituted by another candidate after filing his certificate of candidacy so long as the substitute is nominated by the same political party. No surprise that the sixth candidate was nominated by that prominent political party in the 80s notorious for its "new sense" candidates. The Comelec actually stated in its resolution that as far as the May 14, 2007 elections is concerned, substitution due to withdrawal should be done not later than May 7, 2007. Thankfully, that day came and ended without any substitution. It was also a relief that the campaign between and among the 5 serious candidates was not characterized by mudslinging and black propaganda, relatively that is. There was an instance when my candidate was rumored to have withdrawn from the campaign but the other candidates were also not spared from such misinformation drive.
The election week came. I spent the weekend before that excited as I have never been excited the past couple of years (other than occasional lovelife related excitements, of course). As my candidate had limited financial resources for his campaign, he was not able to maximize fielding watchers for each and every polling precinct. Someone pointed out that getting watchers is actually a legalized form of vote-buying - cause really, these recruited persons could potentially snowball and expand the candidate's network of supporters through the watcher's family, neighbors and friends. Of course, I also learned during the course of this campaign and through anecdotes relayed by friends that watchers actually collect per diems from more than one candidate and make the elections a money making activity - well, apparently it really is. But going back to my candidate, aside from the lack of watchers, he ran without a political party and would not have the right to have a watcher present inside the polling precinct during counting. Of course, we also wouldn't have a copy of the election return - in seven copies, color coded and in carbonized paper, the size of a half illustration board - where the members of the board of election inspectors (the "BEI") or what the teachers are called, write the names of the candidates for all positions and tally their votes after the election and during the counting using the sticks - four vertical lines with the fifth line drawn diagonally across, or the taras, as referred to in the law. The limited watchers that my candidate had were tasked to obtain what is called the certificate of votes which would indicate the names of the candidates and their corresponding votes, signed by the members of the BEI, in lieu of the election returns.
And so, the election day went on, reportedly glitch free. Unlike the previous elections, the city treasurer's office was able to release the election paraphernalias to the teachers in time for the 7am start of the voting. After the precincts closed at 3pm, the BEI naturally took a break and had refreshments before proceeding with the counting which is conducted by opening the ballot box, retrieving the ballots inside and reading them one by one, reflecting its contents on the election returns. The counting reportedly went on until 5am the following day, with the classrooms turned polling precincts unfree from being peppered with power failures as the counting proceeded - yep, some things never change, and the old style apparently still en vogue.
Meanwhile, the legal team awaited the start of the the collating of the votes from all the precincts, or what is called canvassing to be done by the Board of Canvassers (the "BOC") which is composed of representatives from the local COMELEC, the city prosecutor's office, and the division schools superintendent. Under the law, the BOC was supposed to start doing its job at 6pm but since the counting at the precincts would not have been finished by then, the BOC actually starts working the following morning. In our case, we waited for two hours outside the locked-up city hall, with ants milling around us, gamo-gamos swarming around us as we sit on the still very warm concrete pavements across the city hall, very near the spot where I used to hang around when I was still in high school. At 8pm, someone relayed to all of us lawyers of the several candidates that the canvassing will start at 8am the following day. Hmnn...
Anyway, as the results of our quick count based on the certificates of votes came in, it became apparent that my candidate's sort of experiment of running a low budget, clean campaign simply wouldn't work in a district such as ours and considering that there were many other candidates. There was one candidate who attempted to literally buy his way into a congresional seat - to the point that it became insulting for us voters as we were apparently being bought in the most bulgar way possible. He did not win. The one who eventually won the congressional seat was a former local beauty queen who is reportedly of not much good repute. But oh well, true or not, that is another story.
Needless to say, my candidate having conceded, the legal team was no longer directed to be present during the canvassing. The loss was heartbreaking because I realized too late that I wasn't able to prepare myself emotionally for the eventuality of my candidate losing. It was heartbreaking because we didn't expected the results to be that way - my candidate did not even land in second or third place. Professionally, I was also disappointed because after months of preparation, I wasn't even able to set foot inside the canvassing area.
(To be continued...)
This time was different altogether because I made a decision to help my friend who is running for the position of congressman in our district. As early as last year, I was already giving him advice on election related matters and this went on until the early part of the year - from the details that he should include in his certificate of candidacy, to the correct size of his campaign posters. For several months before the elections, I would carry around with me my compilation of election reading materials - the law, the handy outlines and the current resolutions of the Commission on Elections, ready to answer my candidate's questions anytime. Not only that, I asked around for help from friends who have done actual election work (as I had never actually done it since I was not yet a lawyer in 2001, and I was a government employee in 2004). Some friends we indifferent but I did found friends who were so eager and willing to help - thank God for them. I met with my candidate's other legal adviser-friends and shortly organized a legal team. I was pointed to his campaign coordinators and I quickly started working with them. I learned how many registered voters were there in our district, the number of voting centers (the schools), the number of barangays, and the number of precincts (classrooms where the voters actually vote).
My candidate had five opponents, though later on we found out that there is a sixth candidate who used to be a friend of my candidate who had an ax to grind against him. It was rumored that he was paid to file his certificate of candidacy and that there were plans to have him substituted by someone who had the same surname as my candidate, ala Alan Peter Cayetano and Joselito "Peter" Cayetano. Under Philippine election laws, a candidate may withdraw and be substituted by another candidate after filing his certificate of candidacy so long as the substitute is nominated by the same political party. No surprise that the sixth candidate was nominated by that prominent political party in the 80s notorious for its "new sense" candidates. The Comelec actually stated in its resolution that as far as the May 14, 2007 elections is concerned, substitution due to withdrawal should be done not later than May 7, 2007. Thankfully, that day came and ended without any substitution. It was also a relief that the campaign between and among the 5 serious candidates was not characterized by mudslinging and black propaganda, relatively that is. There was an instance when my candidate was rumored to have withdrawn from the campaign but the other candidates were also not spared from such misinformation drive.
The election week came. I spent the weekend before that excited as I have never been excited the past couple of years (other than occasional lovelife related excitements, of course). As my candidate had limited financial resources for his campaign, he was not able to maximize fielding watchers for each and every polling precinct. Someone pointed out that getting watchers is actually a legalized form of vote-buying - cause really, these recruited persons could potentially snowball and expand the candidate's network of supporters through the watcher's family, neighbors and friends. Of course, I also learned during the course of this campaign and through anecdotes relayed by friends that watchers actually collect per diems from more than one candidate and make the elections a money making activity - well, apparently it really is. But going back to my candidate, aside from the lack of watchers, he ran without a political party and would not have the right to have a watcher present inside the polling precinct during counting. Of course, we also wouldn't have a copy of the election return - in seven copies, color coded and in carbonized paper, the size of a half illustration board - where the members of the board of election inspectors (the "BEI") or what the teachers are called, write the names of the candidates for all positions and tally their votes after the election and during the counting using the sticks - four vertical lines with the fifth line drawn diagonally across, or the taras, as referred to in the law. The limited watchers that my candidate had were tasked to obtain what is called the certificate of votes which would indicate the names of the candidates and their corresponding votes, signed by the members of the BEI, in lieu of the election returns.
And so, the election day went on, reportedly glitch free. Unlike the previous elections, the city treasurer's office was able to release the election paraphernalias to the teachers in time for the 7am start of the voting. After the precincts closed at 3pm, the BEI naturally took a break and had refreshments before proceeding with the counting which is conducted by opening the ballot box, retrieving the ballots inside and reading them one by one, reflecting its contents on the election returns. The counting reportedly went on until 5am the following day, with the classrooms turned polling precincts unfree from being peppered with power failures as the counting proceeded - yep, some things never change, and the old style apparently still en vogue.
Meanwhile, the legal team awaited the start of the the collating of the votes from all the precincts, or what is called canvassing to be done by the Board of Canvassers (the "BOC") which is composed of representatives from the local COMELEC, the city prosecutor's office, and the division schools superintendent. Under the law, the BOC was supposed to start doing its job at 6pm but since the counting at the precincts would not have been finished by then, the BOC actually starts working the following morning. In our case, we waited for two hours outside the locked-up city hall, with ants milling around us, gamo-gamos swarming around us as we sit on the still very warm concrete pavements across the city hall, very near the spot where I used to hang around when I was still in high school. At 8pm, someone relayed to all of us lawyers of the several candidates that the canvassing will start at 8am the following day. Hmnn...
Anyway, as the results of our quick count based on the certificates of votes came in, it became apparent that my candidate's sort of experiment of running a low budget, clean campaign simply wouldn't work in a district such as ours and considering that there were many other candidates. There was one candidate who attempted to literally buy his way into a congresional seat - to the point that it became insulting for us voters as we were apparently being bought in the most bulgar way possible. He did not win. The one who eventually won the congressional seat was a former local beauty queen who is reportedly of not much good repute. But oh well, true or not, that is another story.
Needless to say, my candidate having conceded, the legal team was no longer directed to be present during the canvassing. The loss was heartbreaking because I realized too late that I wasn't able to prepare myself emotionally for the eventuality of my candidate losing. It was heartbreaking because we didn't expected the results to be that way - my candidate did not even land in second or third place. Professionally, I was also disappointed because after months of preparation, I wasn't even able to set foot inside the canvassing area.
(To be continued...)
Labels: Philippine elections
posted by wernicke @ 5:50:00 PM
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