my ARMM election updates

(on my way to the province. took a picture of me in my shades)

i have been sooo busy lately and today is the only time i could blog and write and download pics from my obsolete digicam. in a gist these kept me busy. pre-election drama, ARMM election mode, post-election fiasco, development work, Pikit evacuees mission, picking up donations, writing letters etcetera and etcetera. i have had a average of an hour of shuteye everyday. my pimples are the size of the Liguasan Marsh.

here are a few updates. apologies for the unedited entry.. will edit when i have the luxury of time.

on my way to the province i was skeptical. automated elections or not, i knew what was about to happen. there would be massive election fraud regardless if it were done manually or thru the Smartmatic machines that cost millions of the taxpayers money. there would be cheating. gargantuan amounts of it. there would be 'hakot' in areas of the Ampatuans. they're famous for that. but i was also hopeful since there were lots of observers. observers who would document and look and see and write about it. Anfrel, foreign observers and also the foreign press.

i had a fixed agenda though. i would vote, make chika chika with constituents, move around maguindanao as much as me my brother could and as much as our gas money would take us. so the whole day we were able to cover paglas, pagagawan, pagalungan, some parts of Sultan Kudarat and then some.

same with other observers i saw that there were insufficient safeguards to identify voters and prevent 'ghost' or multiple voting. in Pagalungan, where i voted, i had to ask to be given the indelible ink on my finger. and much to my surprise the ink was still sealed and in the box and unused. this at 10am. there was no asking of voters ID's or any identification for that matter. so, 'ghost' or underaged voters were able to cast votes. there were no 'cubicles' for the voters, so any tom, dick or harry could go near them and persuade them to vote for someone else. lastly, if you knew the teachers assisting or the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) then you could vote again and again.

lucky me i was able to find my name on the voters list. my brother wasn't very lucky though. he could not find his name, could not find his precint. ergo, he couldn't vote. he was ballistic and i had to restrain him so he wouldn't lash out at the BEIs and teachers in the school. i would be too! he had a sparkingly new voters ID with precint number indicated and couldnt cast a vote. i found that pretty funny.

at 9 am from the town of Paglas, we traveled thru Mlang then Matalam, and on to Kabacan. at the crossroad of Kayaga in Kabacan we noticed everyone was at a standstill. military closed the northbound National Highway and no one was allowed to pass. my brother asked permission if we could get thru since he was registered in Pagagawan (next town from Kabacan) and I was registered and raring to vote in Pagalungan (2 towns from Kabacan). military said yes we could pass but at our own risk. little did I know they also closed the southbound National Highway in Midsayap going into Aleosan and into Pikit. we then proceeded and there goes the story of my brother NOT being able to vote in Pagagawan and me succesfully casting my vote in Pagalungan.

(National Highway in Kabacan was closed

no one could passed thru. except of course, for me and my brother :)

(i voted on this machine)

(got a printed copy and was inked)

(my sister voting)

i missed the days when my cousins and i would converge at the Pagalungan school on election day and gossip ourselves to death. we had fun then. i was wishfully thinking we could do it again. but we didn't. now, all i saw was a cousin or two. the others were scared to show their faces since we were on opposing political sides. it's just sad that politics could destroy families like mine. i don't blame them though. i blame their fathers who tell them not to be friends with me since i'm so and so's daughter. i really detest that. i detest that they would sellout for money and power. it's like selling your soul to the devil. but will the devil be there when you're down on luck and penniless? i don't think so. the devil will be somewhere else corrupting some poor old soul. but i know family will be there. family will always be there. in sickness and in health. i hope they teach their children that.