09 May 2016
Today is the day Filipino people are heading to the polling booths to cast their votes for President, Vice President, 12 Senators, Congressman, Mayor, Vice Mayor, 6 Councilmen and a PartyList Representative. Voting Booths open at 7am but Patrick and I went at 830AM. We wanted to get it done early to avoid the rush and the heat in the afternoon.
So, we headed to Moises Salvador Elementary School, which was where I voted last time. When we got to the gate I knew, it was closed and Patrick said it's probably the school next door so we went there. When we looked for our precinct number on the list, it wasn't there. So, we asked at the Voter's Assistance Desk and we were so silly, there was another gate at Moises Salvador! It was closed because the school was undergoing some construction.
We followed the rest of the public who were headed in the same direction. At the school, we looked for our precinct number so we know which room we needed to head to.
We then headed to it. There was quite a number of people around already. Some were going to vote, others are done.
I had no problem finding my name on the list when we got to the room since I had voted in the previous elections. Since Patrick was voting in this precinct for the first time and he just reactivated his voting privileges, we couldn't locate his name at first and he had to confirm with COMELEC at the front of the school. But upon re-checking the list, his name was there. We just overlooked it, our brains weren't working this early in the morning haha. So, that was a relief.
Picture taking isn't allowed inside the polling room so I didn't take pictures :) The procedure was fast though.
- An assistant will write down your name, gender, number on the list and precinct number on a piece of paper.
- You will bring this with you into the room for verification.
- Once verified, you will proceed to the next table where you will sign on the COMELEC registered voters' list (I don't know what you actually call it). The list actually shows the digitized photo they took of you when the Biometrics update happened. This is a great security feature to avoid flying voters.
- Next, the Board of Elections Officer will hand you your ballot covered in a folder and a marker with the express reminder to mark your votes gently to avoid punching a hole through the ballot. Apparently, some people press too hard or hold the marker too long on their ballots that they end up punching a hole in them.
- After you've marked your choices on the ballot, you take it to the desk to personally run it through the machine. I did it! I think I overheard the person in charge say that the machine will capture everything regardless of how you insert the ballot (whether front first or back first).
- Then, you wait for the machine to spit out your receipt which you check to make sure that the votes that you cast are reflected correctly. The receipt will show you a printed list of your choices for the respective positions. Mine showed my own personal choices, so no problem there.
- You will then give back the receipt to them and watch them put in a container. You're Done!
Going out of the school after voting feels good. It's even better because there are so many food stalls around the school. There are vendors selling corn, buko juice, gulaman, corn on a cob, mangoes and other fruits, cookies, donuts and many other street foods. We bought mangoes, corn, taho and cookies :)
The street was getting crowded as people are beginning to flock to the schools. I think plenty are excited to make their voices heard! Mabuhay Philippines!
Today, we went to Kenny Rogers Roasters in Katipunan to celebrate Pio's 4th Birthday. We left pretty early to avoid the traffic and we made it in time to slide into the last remaining slot in the parking :)
Today is my Mom's 69th birthday. In her honor, we went to the Museo Pambata (the first hands-on children's interactive museum in the Philippines) because as an Educator of young minds, my mom absolutely loved museums and the wealth of knowledge that they can impart. It was incidentally International Museum Day so Museo Pambata's entrance fees were waived for the day which was a blessing too! :) Read on to see what's inside Museo Pambata :)
Another milestone in the Tadeo Family: Luke celebrated his 1st Birthday at Jollibee Pioneer! Yay! Happy birthday Luke and Congrats to Mommy Toni and Daddy Stevie!! :) It's so nice to see everyone again. Thank you for inviting us we had such a great time!! Daming pagkain!! :)
When we visited the National Museum and the Museum of the Filipino People last May 5th (see the posts here and here), we knew that we needed more time to visit Rizal Park and its environs. Today was the day we came back for more. We started around 4PM to avoid the hot summer sun and we ended our walking tour around 6PM. It was enough to visit most of the attractions between the Quirino Grandstand and Luneta, but ideally, we should have taken more time to include the ones opposite the Museum of the Filipino People. Read on for more of our adventure.
We went to the Quezon City Parks and Wildlife Center primarily to attend Joe Inoue's Meet and Greet with his Filipino fans (story here). After the event, we decided to go around the place since it's been a while since we've been here and it appears that a lot has changed. On the way to the venue, we passed a lot of people having a picnic or just walking around and relaxing.