On Monday, Filipino voters showed just what they thought of their betters.

For weeks, even months before the voting, legislators, so-called IT experts, business leaders, civil society figures and the candidates themselves were saying that the automated elections would fail.

There were dire warnings of how the basic programs of the computers could be ?rigged? to produce the desired results. Talk was rife of how ordinary Filipinos would be so discombobulated by the task of shading the ?egg-shaped circles? and feeding a ballot into a PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machine that they would either botch the job or stay away completely.

And when, just a few days before the elections, the precinct-specific compact flash cards produced discrepancies during the test votes, all the naysayers raised their voices in a chorus of gloom and doom.

Add to this cloud of negativism the ?usual? factors of violence in electoral hot spots, vote-buying and intimidation by private armed groups or rebels.

And yet, as the morning dawned bright and sunny, later turning hot and searing, the voters shook off their lackadaisical habit of leaving things for the last minute and trooped early to the polls.

In fact, it was the deluge of people, many of them compelled by advice to ?come early and avoid the crowds,? that created the long queues and congestion that was the most commonly heard?and most loudly aired?complaint on Election Day.

And though ?tweeters? and bloggers and the folks who flooded media hotlines throughout the day to complain about the heat, the interminable wait and the frustration caused by PCOS machines breaking down, remarkably, civil war or even a humble version of People Power did not break out.

Excitement

Senator and presidential candidate Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III embodied the patient and long-suffering Filipino voter, standing by some accounts for as long as four hours under the early afternoon sun and whiling the time away while waiting for his precinct?s faulty PCOS machine to get repaired. And outgoing President (and incoming congresswoman) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo symbolized the Filipino voter excited by the prospect of taking part in computerized elections and yet apprehensive about its chances for success.

When Arroyo fed her ballot from her ballot secrecy folder into the humming maw of the PCOS machine, she watched anxiously for the message from the machine ?congratulating? her for having her vote read and counted.

Seeing the message, she dramatically heaved a sigh of relief, holding a hand to her heart. She seemed to act out the mixed feelings of ordinary voters, raring to try their hand at automated polls, but fearful of somehow failing on the job, or worse, not getting their vote counted.

Foreign observers quoted in this paper Tuesday were feeling sorry for the Filipino people, who they said had to cope not just with armed men trying to scare them from voting but even with a hastily set up automated system that led to long lines and longer waits and eventually to the disenfranchisement of thousands.

Inconveniences

And yet, judging from personal experience and from observations made on a tour of various voting places in Metro Manila, people were generally willing to put up with the inconveniences inherent in a messy democracy.

At the public school where we usually voted, a directional map showing the locations of the different precincts stood in a prominent location. The only problem was that it was difficult to follow the map amid the crush and clamor of a noisy crowd, and given the complicated layout of the school buildings and facilities. The distracting sample ballots, streamers and posters which, in violation of election law, were scattered over the ground added to overall confusion.

And yet, when we finally found our clustered precinct, we found neighbors and old friends sharing our predicament, and it seemed churlish to complain about the heat, humidity and confusion when everybody else was making the best of it.

At Rizal High School in Pasig City, the large, airy campus seemed to have a calming effect on the voting populace. Perhaps it helped that there was no crowding, given that the grounds could accommodate even an outsize number of voters, and that by the time we dropped by, it was early afternoon and the early crush had dissipated.

Inspiring sights

Voters were filling up ballots in relative quiet, while teachers calmly called for new voters from among those in the ?waiting room? where they were being briefed on the process of voting.

At Guadalupe Nuevo High School in Makati City, long lines of voters snaked through the corridors. I asked one woman how long she had been there. ?Just an hour,? she replied, saying that she had just been called out of the ?waiting room? and she was excited to fill up her ballot. Citizens stood in line behind her, quietly awaiting their turn.

In all the schools we visited, there were sights touching and inspiring. Younger relatives held senior citizens by their elbow, helping them negotiate the way to their precincts.

Voters graciously gave way to the old and the disabled who were given preferential treatment at the voting centers. And in strategic corners could be found makeshift counters peddling bottled water, biscuits and banana cue. I guess Filipinos could endure any amount of inconvenience provided they aren?t made to go hungry.

Later in the day, everyone?s mood, even those who were so turned off by the crowding and the heat they chose to leave rather than endure the ordeal of voting any longer, was lifted considerably with the speedy transmission of the vote count.

Positive experience

Even if the media for the most part chose to focus on the glitches attending transmission, from malfunctioning modems to misaligned satellites, no one could deny that the first reports of vote totals were a clear contrast to the painful silence that Filipinos had to endure in the first few days after an election.

By late evening, local candidates were already being proclaimed, and it was clear that with vote totals coming in just a few hours after the close of polls, it would have been extremely difficult for anyone to massage the results or produce fraudulent totals on a massive scale.

Despite the prophets of doom and failure, the pooh-poohing of the ordinary Pinoy?s intelligence and dedication, and the over-zealous protectiveness of foreign observers, Election Day proved on the whole a positive experience for everyone.

Of course, we should remember those who were killed in election-related violence, and go after goons and vote-buyers, and their patrons. But we shouldn?t forget either that when the times called for courage and perseverance, for patience and confidence, the Filipino voter didn?t shirk the call and even managed to have a good time.