By Daisy CL Mandap
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| The line going to Bayanihan extends to as far as the eye could see |
Amid the strictest anti-pandemic restrictions in Hong
Kong, a total of 3,285 Filipinos managed to cast their ballots on the first day
of overseas voting for the 2022 presidential election in the Philippines.
However, only 3,282 votes were counted as three ballots were rejected due to unnecessary marks on them and unintentional damage.
The turnout came as a pleasant surprise to Consulate
officials, given the strict gathering regulations that forced them to comply with the police
request to stop people from queuing up outside the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy
Town less than four hours after polling began.
Consul Raly Tejada told The SUN that as early as 11:30am
they already received a warning from the police that they were having a
difficult time controlling the crowd.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The police team leader, a female officer, went up to
Bayanihan and requested Congen Tejada to stop allowing people to queue.
“What worried them more was the steady stream of
people,” said Congen Tejada. “Their spotters at Kennedy Town MTR station were
reporting huge numbers still coming. Police recommended we already inform the
public that voter turnout was heavier than expected and that the line has
stretched more than 2 kms.”
By this time, the police estimated that more than 3,000
people were already in the area, so the Consulate was forced to tell the public
of the problem.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
“By 11:50am, upon the request of the police we came
out to talk to the people to ask them to vote on another day,” said Congen. “The
police were very worried about the situation and rightly so.”
Consulate officials fear that the month-long voting
could be halted altogether if a Covid-19 outbreak is recorded from among the
thousands who had lined up to be among the first to vote for the country’s next
president, vice-president, 12 new senators and a party-list.
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| Congen Tejada negotiates with police team leader before call to stop the queue was issued |
Congen Tejada was nevertheless grateful for the
unexpected heavy turnout on the first day of the overseas vote.
“In my view the enthusiasm showed by our kababayans in
Hong Kong is exceptional. I am very proud of them for showing up on the first
day,” he said.
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“Nonetheless we have to give regard to the anti-pandemic measures, so I appeal to everyone to consider voting on another day. We have 30 days naman po so we have have another 29 days."
The heavy turnout also surprised many Filipino
community leaders who were out early in anticipation of the 8am poll opening,
but they also regretted that hundreds, if not thousands, had to be turned away because
the precincts this year were only half the usual number.
Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chairperson of United
Filipinos-Migrante Hong Kong said, “The Consulate should press Comelec
(Commission on Elections) to send us more vote-counting machines (VCMs) so
there will be more precincts to serve our voters,” she said.
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“A lot of our registered voters may end up not being
able to cast their ballots because there are now only five precincts instead of
the 10 we have always had.”
With more than 93,000 registered voters, she said it
will be difficult to even come close to the 49% turnout recorded in the last presidential
election in 2016 if only five precincts and five VCMs are in service.
Balladares-Pelaez joined other Filcom leaders all over
the world in a press conference last week to hit out at Comelec’s act of
slashing the OV budget by half, and at foreign posts abroad not acting
quickly enough to ensure a smooth conduct of elections.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Congen Tejada said the Consulate has already brought
up the need for more VCMs to Comelec so they can open additional precincts soon.
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| CG says 5 more precincts should be added within this week |
“We are working hard to open another five precincts para ma accommodate lahat ng tao,” he
said. “I am positive that within this week baka
mapapatakbo na natin.” (we could get them working already).
The overflow crowds and the shortage of VCMs aside, Congen
Tejada said he didn’t see any major problems affecting the conduct of the
elections.
At the start, there were problems with the ballots
getting stuck in the VCMs but he said these were just slight hiccups that
happened because the operators forgot to open the receptacle for the ballots.
Congen said this happened even in his own precinct, as
he was the second voter to cast his ballot.
The first was Baneng Mendez of Unifil-Migrante, who camped
outside Bayanihan starting at 9am on Saturday, to make sure she could keep her
record of being first in line for the third-year running.
Compared to the previous overseas voting which were
held every three years starting in 2004, there were only a few people who never made it to a precinct - either because they failed to make it to the early
cut-off for queuing, their names were not in the certified list of voters or
because they had been delisted for failing to vote in the last two consecutive
elections.
One of them was an elderly man who presented both his
HKID card and a voter’s ID, but his name was no longer in the registry though
he said he voted in 2016.
When told that he needed to register again, he told
the Consulate staff tasked with verifying voters’ credentials to just put back
his name in the registry, not realizing that only Comelec could add or amend
the voters’ list.
Another woman who ended up lining for the bus back
home instead of into Bayanihan, said she took one look at the end of the queue
and was disheartened to see that it had extended to beyond two blocks away.
She said she’d just ask her employer to allow her to
go out on a regular day so she wouldn’t have to line up just to vote.
A few voters had their names misspelled or they were
still listed under their maiden surnames, but they were allowed to vote, with a
reminder to get the matters sorted out when registration opens for the next
election.
For most of those who did manage to cast their
ballots, the long wait was the crunch.
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| First stop is name check and assignment of precinct number |
One voter who got to finally stand outside her
precinct by 11am said she arrived at Bayanihan at 7am, or an hour before the
doors opened. She said she was hungry and tired and just wanted to get through
the process.
Another voter who nearly did not make it to the
cut-off time said she was anxious not to be turned away as she had a flight to
catch Monday. She said she got to the tail-end of the queue at 11:30am, and
managed to get to her precinct just before 6pm.
She said she had a big breakfast so did not mind
having to give up lunch, but was already looking forward to hopping onto a taxi
to go home as her whole body was aching from having to stand up for so long.
While in the queue, she said she tried to convert
those who were standing close by vote for her chosen candidates, but failed
because they were all set on their choices.
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| It took some voters up to 6 hours to get to their assigned precincts |
Still, she was happy that everyone who was already in line was allowed to get in and vote, despite the published closing time of 5pm.
The month-long overseas voting will be held every day from 8am to 5pm at Bayanihan Centre, except on the last day, May 9, when voting will be extended until 7pm. This is the only day when all registered voters in the Philippines will cast their ballots.
