Reporter’s Notebook: Machines break down, but not will to vote for elders, PWDs

To reach their precincts on Monday, couple Melchor and Evelinda Murillo were skillfully maneuvered through the crowd at JP Laurel High School in Quezon City by their neighbor and “seeing guide” Evelyn Conde.

“I can still vote and make my own choices even if I am blind,” said Melchor, 51, who is visually impaired like his wife. Hearing this, Evelinda, 54, smiled and thanked Conde, their reliable helper from the National Vocational Rehabilitation Center in Project 4.

Conde, who usually volunteered to guide the couple whenever they stepped outside their home, said that even with the automated elections, it was still not that easy for the blind to vote.

“The process may be faster but I have to be extra-careful in shading [the ballot for them],” Conde said.

The Murillo couple were two of the 115 persons with disabilities (PWDs) who are registered to vote at the JP Laurel. They are among the beneficiaries of the Ephpheta Foundation for the Blind based at the NVRC Compound.

School principal Florito Gereña noted with dismay that a Commission on Elections (Comelec) plan to provide PWDs with a special room at the school did not materialize.

“We have identified the PWDs, but they were assigned to different precincts and we cannot just designate a room for them without the Comelec’s approval,” Gereña said.

At Miriam College in Barangay (village) Loyola Heights, also in Quezon City, an 80-year-old nun refused to be slowed down by a spinal injury in heading to the polls.

“I told myself I will not vote anymore but I realized it is a Christian obligation to vote,” said Sister Lourdes Pabelico, who went to the precinct assisted by a  student.

Wheelchair-bound Alegria Gonzales, 83, who recently underwent a kidney operation, arrived early with her daughter to vote at Culiat High School Tandang Sora Avenue—and was stumped to learn that their assigned precinct was on the third floor.

But the bayanihan spirit, or community volunteerism, quickly took hold of the crowd who saw the Gonzaleses. A group of voters carried Alegria in her wheelchair up the flight of stairs.—Jeannette I. Andrade, Sunshine Blanco and Dan Mikail Paurom

Ben Abalos still cuts a path

Once one of the most powerful men in the country during elections, Benjamin Abalos showed up at Highway Hills Integrated School in Mandaluyong City and initially found himself at the end of a long line leading to Cluster 136.

But voters who were in the queue quickly gave way to Abalos, 78, a former Mandaluyong mayor and former Comelec chair who was forced to resign in 2007 because of the NBN-ZTE controversy.

“That’s OK, he’s a senior citizen,” one resident was heard saying. “He’s famous. It’s okay to make him go first,” said another voter who had been waiting for her turn for 30 minutes when Abalos arrived together with wife, Corazon.

“Nakakahiya naman (This is embarrassing),” Abalos said, but the voters, who respectfully addressed him as “sir,” yielded anyway. Mandaluyong is still very much an Abalos country, with his son Benhur seeking reelection as mayor.—Kristine Felisse Mangunay

Early birds

Senior citizens were among the early birds at the precincts also in Makati City, including 74-year-old retired stock market analyst Delfin Navea. “At this age, we can’t afford to come late,” he said.

Navea cast his ballot at San Antonio National High School, where other elderly voters came as early as 7 a.m., some in wheelchairs. “Even if it is extra-hard for those like us, I make sure I exercise my right of suffrage,” he said.

The school, however, didn’t have any special voting area for seniors. But Josefino Angeles, 68, apparently didn’t mind. “If you’re still capable, why do you have to be given that accommodation?”—Niña P. Calleja

16 problematic PCOS

At press time, the biggest number of faulty precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in a single city was reported in Caloocan, with 16 machines breaking down.

Seven of them were at Maypajo Elementary School, according to Bernabe Embile of the Caloocan City police community relations desk.

The other defective machines were reported at Camarin D Elementary School, Llano Elementary School, Cielito Zamora High School and Caloocan High School. Most of the problematic machines were either replaced or repaired in the afternoon, after causing hours of delay.—Janelle C. Ladonga and Reden D. Madrid

Mad in Mandaluyong

At Xavier School in San Juan City, a PCOS machine bogged down at Precinct Cluster 65, causing the voting to be delayed and testing the patience of mostly senior citizens who were among the first to arrive.

The machine was later fixed and operations went back to normal around 9:10 a.m., but by then complaints from the hungry and the impatient had mounted. “We missed our breakfast just to get here early,” said one of the grumbling elders.

As early as 7 a.m. at Bonifacio Javier National High School in Mandaluyong City, a PCOS machine went faulty and had to be turned on and off each time a ballot was inserted. Victor Javeña, the election board cluster chair, said the machine was working just fine during testing last week, “but today it started rejecting ballots.”

The delay caused a long line at Cluster 72, which covers seven precincts, and forced some voters to just go home. “I came here to vote but look at this mess. I don’t want to wait anymore,” said a resident of Ayala Homes Subdivision who waited for almost two hours before his patience ran out.

Voting resumed around 10 a.m. even though election inspectors were still waiting for a replacement PCOS machine from the Comelec. The shaded ballots were temporarily kept in a box under their table.

The machines for Cluster 70 at the same school also encountered a “minor” glitch involving the memory card, according to Comelec technician Hector Balassu. Another at Cluster 66 did not accept ballots.

At Highway Hills Integrated School, a machine for Cluster 125 bogged down for about 30 minutes. This was next to the room where reelectionist Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos and his wife cast their votes around 10 a.m.—Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Audrey Calonge

Woman thrown out in Tondo

In Manila, voting was briefly halted in P. Guevarra Elementary School in Binondo after some precincts ran out of special marking pens, according to Allan Paul Reyes, a volunteer of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting.

Four PCOS machines didn’t work when the polling precincts opened at Dr. Alejandro Albert Elementary School, also in Manila.

But not all problems were technical. At a precinct in Barangay 70 in Moriones, Tondo, a member of the board of election inspectors ordered a woman out of the room when she was seen “dictating” another voter on what names to shade.

At the upscale Barangay Bel-Air in Makati City, one PCOS machine kept rejecting ballots, delaying voting for about 30 minutes, said village chair Nene Lichauco.

In Pasay City, two PCOS machines at Rafael Palma Elementary School and Pasay East High School also proved defective.—Tessa Distor, Catherine Carvajal, Niña Calleja, Alex Austria, Bernadette Nicolas, Carla Perez and Gia Villanueva