This poll watcher was ready to guard votes with his life

JOHN MICHAEL Serenio, volunteer poll watcher of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting at Lopez Jaena Elementary School in Bacolod City. Photo by Br. Jaazeal Jakosalem/Contributor

On May 13, John Michael Serenio woke up early and was beaming with excitement.

He wheeled his wheelchair to Lopez Jaena Elementary School in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, about 250 meters away from his house, so he could start his duties.

Serenio was a volunteer of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and a poll watcher despite his disability. In fact, he did his duties with gusto.

Serenio was born with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) that prevents him from reaching the normal height of an average person.

According to MedlinePlus website, the pituitary gland of people with GHD doesn’t produce enough growth hormone. The cause is usually unknown, according to the website.

Serenio is 21 years old but he is only 37 inches in height. He moves in a wheelchair because of weak bones (classified as osteogenesis imperfecta), as medically diagnosed when he was still an infant.

He may be short but his heart is big.

This is shown by the service he extended when he was a PPCRV volunteer last elections.

Sitting and moving in his wheelchair, he was at the PPRCV command center with young people who were also members of the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima, Barangay Lopez-Jaena, Bacolod City.

He diligently guided people on where to vote and assisted, with a fellow youth volunteer, in making sure that the voters went to their designated polling places.

“I am helping the voters find their names and designated precincts,” Serenio  beamed.

He assisted a paralyzed voter and helped a senior citizen find their polling places.

Serenio was aware of the many abuses during elections, like vote-buying, vote-switching, violence, intimidation and even doubts on the precinct count optical scan  machines.

But he was not scared. He gave the assurance that with his physical condition, he was willing to die to guard the votes. “My work is also to guard our votes,” he said.

Fr. Ernie Larida, former parish priest and now director of  Social Action Center of the Diocese of Bacolod, said Serenio was active in the parish and helped in the choir.

“He is an active and regular churchgoer in our parish,” he said.

But Serenio also has dreams.

“I am hoping to graduate from high school this school year and wishing to pursue [a course in] computer engineering,” he said.

He wanted to be a computer engineer because of his limitation to do strenuous activity.

Because of his condition, he can just work on a computer, and he is already familiar with doing computer-related activities like typing. He is also interested in programming.

Serenio is studying at Bacolod City National High School in its special education program.

His studies is supported by his mother who works as a caregiver in Bacolod.

Serenio is also worried about the medical condition of his father, who is already old and sickly due to a stroke. He lives with his four siblings.

But Serenio is one who never gives up because he has courage and determination.

It is the same traits he has shown when he protected the votes of the Bacoleños from intimidation, dishonesty, violence and corruption.