My parents and I left our house at around 8:30 AM and headed to the San Antonio (Makati) Barangay Hall. I was so excited since I haven't voted in a while - the last being the 1998 Presidential Elections. I registered to become a voter sometime in 1997 (I'm not sure) for the barangay elections - my first - in my hometown Davao City. After 1998, I was not able to vote due to a number of reasons: it was too costly for me to fly back to Davao, there was no such thing as Go Lite or EconoLight flights, and there was insufficient information about registration transfers (in the tri-media and online).
In the past few years, I was dismayed and disappointed at myself for not being able to vote (and I and some of my colleagues just did our own mock elections at work in 2007). Tired of getting disappointed with myself, I decided that I WILL VOTE in the 2010 Philippine Elections. Since December of 2008, I have been doing my own research online about the registration for the 2010 elections. Good thing the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Website is now updated with all the pertinent information about the 2010 elections (the website is quite a challenge to navigate though, so I will post the details in individual posts here in this blog).
Last week, when my parents processed their Senior Citizen records transfer/change of residence (we just moved two weeks ago) at the San Antonio Barangay Hall, they found out that special Comelec Registrations will be conducted this week (from June 8 to June 10). Although the requirement (as posted on the bulletin boards) was just one valid ID (check the list of Valid IDs here), you may be required to present a proof of residence (utility bills under your name, Police or NBI Clearance with your current address), so just prepare those.
When we got to the barangay hall, there was already a long queue (a good sign! people are resposnible!) for the acquisition of the Registration Forms. Before we got our forms, we had to submit a photocopy of our valid ID (we did not have our IDs photocopied, good thing the barangay hall had an in-house photocopying service - for a fee, of course). We had to wait eons and eras before we got the forms because there were too many people and the process was quite disorganized. When we finally got our forms, my folks and I decided to just walk home (a block away) and fill them out at the comforts of our own home. The heat inside the barangay hall plus the sardines can-like throng of people were too much for us to take. (The forms are available online but only the new registration - for new voters - can be downloaded and accepted). When we finally finished filling out the forms - three to six pages depending on the type of registration - we headed back to the barangay hall. It was 11:45 AM but we were told that they will accept our forms at 1:00 PM. Why, you ask? LUNCH BREAK!
While I would like to rant and complain about that, I will not because I understand fully how understaffed they are, how underpaid they are, and how much work is required of them.
1:00 PM came and we went back to the barangay hall. To my surprise, the place was not as jampacked as it was before lunch. There was no queue for getting forms, no queue for photos to be taken. I submitted all our forms at around 1:15. Then my folks and I waited approximately five minutes (imagine that, JUST five minutes!) before our names were called for the photo shoot and biometrics capture.
I asked permission if I could take videos of the whole process and Mr. Herson Rojas, Election Assistant II, gave me a go signal. He and the rest of his staff were quite apprehensive at first, but after I explained to them what it was for, they were all too accommodating and just let me take videos. (They of course asked for my credentials and a photocopy of my ID - which I gladly gave to them, including my business card and the URL for this blog).
The whole process of having your photo taken, your signature recorded, and your fingerprints captured took less than five minutes! I noticed that they were more organized this time (than earlier in the day) and I've heard that their computers, which went bonkers in the morning, were now working in good condition.
After the whole biometrics and photo capture (in an air-conditioned room, thank goodness!), they required us to affix our signatures on the record book an do the manual (with ink) thumbmarks on the actual registration form. After all that was done, they gave me this sheet of paper - an Acknowledgment Receipt. All that's left now is wait for the Voter's ID to be mailed to my address!
If you take out the queue of people, and take out the heat, the whole process can be done in less than 15 minutes!
So what about you? Have you registered yet? Have you applied for a transfer of records yet? Have you registered and voted in previous elections but have not had your biometrics data captured?
If you answered no, then please do it! Let's encourage our friends, families and relatives to do our part in shaping the future of our country!
Register na!
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hey. wow. I was looking for information about transferring precincts and here it is. haha. thanks. I live in san antonio too, ganda ng timing. :)
Hi Tiara, last day nila is tomorrow, btw. Oh and we're neighbors! hehehe!