Mary Jane Payno has been serving as support staff at Pio Del Pilar Elementary School in Sta. Mesa, Manila for the last three elections. This time when the country holds the national elections during a pandemic, she is concerned about getting exposed to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“Nag-aalala talaga (I’m very worried),” Payno, 49, who works as a janitress in a casino hotel, said in an interview with VERA Files during the early hours of balloting.
Dwight Famero, a 24-year-old voter, echoes Payno’s sentiment. “Natatakot naman, so ano lang, hindi lang organized ‘yung ano talaga [pila],” he said, adding that he expects better crowd management in his polling precinct in Barangay 627, Sta. Mesa.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) assured that COVID-19 marshals and safety officers are deployed in polling precincts to make sure that minimum public health standards, such as physical distancing and wearing of masks, are followed.
“We commend our DepEd (Department of Education) supervising officers for executing COVID marshals or safety officers … [M]ay inatasan ang Comelec na extra support staff to deal with this,” acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said in a press briefing at the PICC.
Despite her worries of getting infected, Payno does her assignment of seeing to it that voters stay in orderly lines and assisting others in looking for their precincts.
Vaccination cards and negative RT-PCR tests are not required to vote. For voters who have a temperature above 37.5 degrees Celsius, the Comelec has assigned an isolated polling place (IPP) where they can cast their ballot.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said there will be pop-up vaccination sites from polling precincts for voters who are willing to get an anti-COVID-19 jab. However, the commission only allowed these sites within 30 meters away from the precinct to avoid confusion among voters.
“Pinakiusapan po namin sila [DOH] na maghiwalay na lang kami. Hindi lang kasi ito consideration doon sa pandemic … Ayaw po naming ma-distract ‘yung tao pagdating sa pagboto; ayaw po naming na ma-confuse sila,” Laudiangco explained, recognizing the “good intention” of DOH in setting up vaccination sites onsite.
“Nag-iisang araw lang naman para sa halalan. We want everyone to focus on the elections,” Laudiangco added.
According to Health Undersecretary Rosario Singh-Vergeire, local government units were “given the prerogative if they will set-up vaccination sites for today.”
About 65.74 million Filipinos, including 10.66 million persons with disability and senior citizens, are expected to cast their votes in today’s balloting from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. in 412, 875 polling precincts across the country. (See VERA FILES FACT SHEET: The Filipino vote in May 2022) –with reports from Ivel John M. Santos
