Long lines for some, short wait for others

Voters waited in line to cast their ballots  in rural and city precincts in Cebu.

Many experienced a wait of as long as one to three hours. This was because as many as a thousand voters in a clustered precinct shared one Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine.  Some voters just breezed through.

Fr. Carmelo Diola of the anti-vote buying advocate Dilaab Foundation, completed the process in 15 minutes flat in barangay Luz, Cebu City.  He said his “secret” was his prayer for intercession to San Pedro Calungsod, whose image he carried in his bag. The foot-long image was the same one he had brought to Rome for San Pedro’s canonization rites in October last year.

“San Pedro is the one to seek help from to expedite things that need to go faster,” said the priest.

Others weren’t so blessed. At Consolacion Elementary School, 50-year-old Cheryl Miñao of barangay Casili lined up at  8 a.m.  “They don’t have a clear system. I haven’t had  breakfast yet . It’s  noon and I’m still waiting,” said Miñao, a day care center teacher.

Rodrigo Apos, one of the poll clerks,  admitted that the processing of voters was “time consuming.”

“Senior citizens, pregnant women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) really need assistance and in a clustered precinct, we only have one PCOS machine. We hope voters understand,” Apos said.

At Subangdaku Elementay School in Mandaue City, one of the heaviest polling areas, voters filled the hallways or formed lines snaking from the ground floor to classrooms upstairs. A Cebu Daily News editor who arrived at 11:40 a.m. ready with her precinct number and ID, stood for an hour before she could sit down –  in a classroom designated as a “waiting area.”   It took another hour before she was guided to the room next door to fill up a ballot and watch the operator feed it into the PCOS.  But the process was relaxed with voters spread out in chair-tables  and a teacher calmly directing people where to go.

In Danao City, senior citizens fell in line as early as 6 a.m at the Danao Elementary School and in poblacion  barangays.

Manuela Veranzes, 78, said she voted early to avoid the crowd and the heat. Another senior citizen, Rosanna Cababan. 71 of barangay Guinsay, said she endured her arthritic pain to exercise her right to vote.

CDN  intern Jessanie Lumagbas found that lining up early  pays off .

“The  balloting  was smooth-sailing. I inserted the ballot into a PCOS slot, waited for it to read my vote and voila! Vote counted.”  A BEI member placed indelible ink on her  index finger before she left.

CDN  senior reporter  Dale Israel found out how to zip through. He avoided early lines at  the Camputhaw Elementary School. But by 6 p.m, no  more voters were around. “It took me less than five minutes to vote,” he said. Correspondents Norman V. Mendoza and Fe Marie Dumaboc