My Vote Will Be Counted

(This day must be pretty special. This is my second post in less than seven hours.)

Consider this a prayer—an ardent one—and hope, rather than confidence: my vote will be counted.

Just before the polls opened, Tony, JC and I trooped to our precinct. The whole of humanity, already soaked in sweat since 6 AM, was already there.

There were multiple queues; we didn't know where we belonged. We asked the volunteers of the PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting) strewn all over, but they were each giving contradictory information over the noise of the unprecedented crowd.

Past elections were different. Then, the precincts of our barangay were in several places. But now, with the automated counting, COMELEC consolidated it in one sardine can, masquerading as a school.

And so finally we found our assigned room, but the queue was about a kilometer long. My temper, which has lain dormant for years, lurked just beneath my breath. But seeing the determination on the faces of people to make their voices heard, I doused my raging volcano by taking shots of everything around me.

After one long hour, we were ushered into our room. The teachers were a picture of patience, all smiles and oh-so-helpful.

The voting itself took only five short minutes—from the signing of my name, making a thumb mark, to the time the PCOS machine lapped up my ballot and flashed, "Congratulations! Your vote has been registered!"

All told, the whole process took 1½ hours. Just a wee bit shorter than queuing in my bank.

As the voting in every part of the country continues today, I pray that God will give every voter the grace of patience to go through what I've just been through.

Everything seemed to be above board. BUT. What's bothering me up to this minute is what I saw in the voting register. My son JB, who has been in the US for five years, had a thumb mark opposite his name in the last voting! Someone voted in his stead. How long has this been going on? How many thousands of absentee voters in Las Pinas were cheated?

I'd have questioned it right then and there, but it was the wrong time and venue to do so. There were hundreds in the queue and they had to take their turn.

Now I don't know know whether to celebrate or mourn the voting exercise.

Yet I will continue to pray for better tomorrows for this country, under the watchful eye of the One who generously dispenses grace.