James of Team Rocket approves of my indelible ink-smeared finger.
I voted again today at my country’s 2013 general elections. Voting has become a ritual for me since I was old enough to do so. The process of registration can become tedious and troublesome for most, although I did not experience too much hassle since I got to register early many years ago. I even got my voter’s ID with my photo and thumbprint on it. It is now my 7th straight time to vote, three of which were presidential elections (none of my bets ever won, oh Raul Roco and Nicanor Perlas). This year’s elections, however, were for the senatorial, congressional, and local government seats.
My brother’s take on the theme with Astroboy.
There was a healthy voter turnout at my precinct, 945-A in San Jose Elementary School in Quezon City. My brother and I had to wait 30 minutes in line outside a classroom before we got to vote. Besides the wait, there wasn’t much of a hassle. The precinct was in order, with the poll staff aware of what needed to be done to keep the voters informed and compliant. Once it was my turn, they verified my identity, I signed the register and was given a rather long ballot. I sat at a grade schooler’s monoblock chair and placed my ballot on a desk with a folder as cover. I shaded the circles containing the names of my few favored candidates with a black marker. When I finished, I stood up and was instructed to slip my ballot inside the PCOS machine. This has now been my 7th election and 2nd automated one. Duty done.
I only voted for a few senatorial candidates. In my view, at least, they have commendable track records in governance. The other candidates, well, are wives or relatives of well-known politicians who have been in the government since forever, or are celebrities banking on their fame, or are mutinous ex-soldiers, or are useless re-electionists who are honestly getting tiresome. Seriously, I’d rather vote for James of Team Rocket. At least James is adorable even if he bungles and fails at his job.
Then there’s also the party list–under-represented sectoral groups who get the chance to win seats in congress. I think is a great system where marginalized and under-represented parts of our society can represent themselves in congress and participate in the law-making process. However, some people just want to take advantage of this for gain, with most candidates having no platforms or goals whatsoever. I say this because of the 200 party list candidates, the name 66 groups start with the letter A, just so they can get on the top of the list and be seen and chosen by the voter still confused about what the party list means. Some are even more shameless, starting their names with the number “1.” Of course not all of them are illegitimate, but most are just plain crude, blatant and shameless. Thankfully, the Commission on Elections held a raffle to decide the order on how the names would appear. Ha! Take that you shameless bastards! I’d rather vote for Team Rocket for my party list. They are as shameless and as incompetent but they are still lovable, plus they have one of the best spiels ever. EVER!
Well, this is just my take on this year’s general election. Democracy is far from perfect, but hopefully we’re getting somewhere.
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