Suffrage, Undervote, Priorities, and Inks Plus Birthday Celebration
I hope most of us had exercised our right to suffrage. I want to share here how today went for me.
We prepared to get to Oslob Elementary school right after having breakfast, that was almost eight but since we were waiting for the in-laws and I needed to also bring Matti with us since no one was going to stay in the house, it took us another hour to reach the site.
By nine in the morning, there were so many people at the school where the precincts were situated.
There was only one entrance gate and one exit, voters and everyone on the premises had to take the entrance at the other gate, and then as soon as they are done with their business, they can take the exit gate which was located at separate areas.
This setup is a great idea so that the gates won't be overcrowded and there is a nice flow. Upon entering the entrance gates, I saw some tents where nurses and medical staff were sitting.
There were areas strictly for walking and there were signs on where to go for such precinct numbers. I was quite surprised that although there were so many people around, there was peace and order like there was silence, not a bad kind of silence but it was really quiet that morning.
There was talking here and there but it was not noisy. I hope you get what I mean by this we found our precincts at the end of the school grounds which was near the exit gates.
We checked our designated numbers and asked the people around us what's the process. There were only a few heads at the precinct and we found out that there were three waiting rooms for the voters. And we have to go to the end of the first room in that array to fall in line.
We did and found that the line was already like an intestine. It was long and we could sense that these people in line have been staying there for hours already. It was a good thing that the skies were a bit gloomy, no sun so it gave the voters at least a relief that they won't be sunburnt.
We were in line but the baby wanted to walk so we let him roam around the ground where there were grasses. And then he asked that I sit down because he wanted some milk.
I decided to go somewhere with fewer people and found this spot where there's a huge tree with its branches hovering and covering a huge section of the land, it was airy at that place, it was facing an ongoing covered court construction and so I let Matti breastfeed.
Even today, I am not very comfortable with breastfeeding in public because Matti is a twiddle baby and he wants both of my fronts to be open, the shirt must be lifted and I don't like that people would be staring at me. So, as much as possible, I tried distracting him. I didn't bring any covers because it is just useless, he cries when he is covered.
Thankfully, the mother-in-law asked the people at the precinct if breastfeeding moms can be prioritized and they agreed so I was asked to sit in the last waiting room. I was already in line to vote and the room had electric fans so Matti was more comfortable here.
It felt nostalgic being in a classroom with writing boards and these people being my classmates. I spoke with the person next to me and figured she had been here from six in the morning but was in the wrong line. She was inserted so she could already cast her vote but it took us another 15-20 minutes of waiting in the room before we finally had our ballots.
Pen markers were given and it didn't take long for me to finish shading. I cast my vote, inserted the ballot into the machine, and was given the receipt which I reviewed, everything was correct. I noticed the undervote note on the receipt. Yes, I voted for only nine senators. I didn't vote for the number one in the tally right now, nor the second one.
But let me tell you that for the locals, I had no idea who these people are because I am not really from Oslob. My husband and I decided to get registered here because of my husband. We can only select one location for our registration so I opt it here so that in times like this, we can go home to Oslob and visit the in-laws as well.
It was lunchtime when my husband finished casting his vote, we headed to Oslob Gaisano mall, had lunch, and went home after.
That afternoon, we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday. He is working outside the country as a seaman but we still celebrated his birthday, there were pancit, lumpia, adobong manok, cake, and some pies.
As of this writing, we know who won the Presidential elections but let me just tell you how I laughed when the current President, Mayor Duterte made a statement after he did his right to suffrage in Davao City. The people in Davao surely love the old man and were chanting his name but he stopped them saying he is not anymore running.
Thanks for reading, you can check my previous articles here too:
xoxo,
momentswithmatti
Mother | Boholana | Cebu | Philippines | Travel | Photography Enthusiast | Calligraphy | Art | Crypto Noob
same tag tudlo mamsh ako na bulit kaayo sa ink