Clad in a bright red dress that matched her spirits, presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago cast her vote early Monday morning at the La Vista clubhouse in Quezon City.
Santiago, an Iloilo native, arrived at the polling precinct shortly before 7 a.m. She stays in a mansion in the subdivision.
Upon alighting her car, Santiago, all smiles, told reporters: “Fight!”
She was accompanied by her husband Narciso.
The feisty senator said she was feeling great, “pack full of vitamins and medication,” and woke up early “as always” to cast her vote.
“Well I’d say I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed if I were a squirrel,” she told the media before voting when asked how she was feeling.
Warning the public against politicians who fear losing without having to resort to cheating, Santiago also urged voters to guard their votes and help poll watchers in ensuring a clean and honest elections.
“Bantayan natin ang boto natin dahil merong nangangamba na hindi sila mananalo kung hindi nila dayain,” Santiago said.
“Kaya tayo, in good faith, pupunta lang presinto, bahala na ang gobyerno. Pero sana kung merong panahon, manatili doon hanggang sa counting na para matulungan ang poll watchers. Importante ngayon ang papel ng poll watchers,” she added.
Santiago, who cast her votes for less than five minutes, said she had an “easy” voting experience, but expressed alarm over ballot boxes made of cardboard which can be “easily defaced or mutilated or damaged or substituted for.”
“Madaling sirain o kaya pagpalitan o buksan itong mga cardboard boxes na ito eh. Hindi tayo sanay sa ganyan. Dati sa bawat eleksyon kapag ihihulog mo sa bakal na box,” she said.
“It was very easy, they were very helpful, but at the end, the ballot box where you put your ballot is only made of cardboard…Pag-ingatan ang balota dahil ang paglalagyan pala ng balota ngayon ay cardboard lang,” Santiago added.
Trailing in presidential opinion polls with a single-digit percentage of voter preference, Santiago is banking on the so-called youth vote.
Santiago, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, said she has already regained her health after undergoing clinical trial for a new anticancer pill.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago appears to be carefully examining her ballot before she casts her vote at the La Vista Subdivision clubhouse in Quezon City. Santiago is running for president.YUJI VINCENT GONZALES