Text by MARK PERE MADRONA
Photos by MARIO IGNACIO IV
LIPA CITY, Batangas—Reymundo Chica and his wife Melanie joined millions of Filipinos as they elected their referred bets in Monday’s barangay elections. With their two children Reymiel and Michelle, aged 10 and 5, in tow, the visually impaired couple went straight to their assigned voting precinct at the ground floor of SM City here. Officers from the Commission on Elections promptly assisted the two as they entered the voting area and sat down to write their choices.
SM City Lipa is one of only four accessible polling places (APPs) nationwide identified by the poll body. Forty-one senior citizens and three voters with disabilities had given their consent to vote in this mall in Monday’s village polls.
The Chicas’ original precinct is in Gaudencio B. Lontok Memorial Elementary School (GLMES) in Barangay Sabang, about 10 minutes away from the mall.
It took the couple less than 15 minutes to cast their votes. There were 30 candidates running for kagawad in Barangay Sabang and the incumbent barangay captain, Wilfredo Lescano, was unopposed.
Journalists and members of poll watchdog groups approached the Chicas immediately after they finishing voting.
“Nakakatuwa na para kaming artista kahit isang araw lang (We enjoy being treated like a celebrity even for just a day),” the 37-year-old Reymundo said in jest.
He added that he and his wife still had to report for work by noon at a nearby mall where they are employed by a massage clinic.
Melanie profusely thanked the Comelec for establishing APPs for persons with disabilities.
“Hindi na kami nakipagsiksikan para lang bumoto (We didn’t have to force ourselves into the crowd just to vote),” she said, recalling the challenges she faced when she voted in the May midterm elections.
Despite these difficulties, she said she and her husband take part in elections religiously.
“Siyempre gusto naming maihalal yung mga kandidato na gusto namin (We want to be able to vote for our choice of leaders),” she said.
Comelec’s pilot project did not proceed without any problems, however.
Early in the day, two senior citizens were turned away. They mistakenly thought they could vote at the mall’s APP even though they were not on the list of voters. Voter Brodel de Silva,meanwhile, was erroneously classified as a PWD instead of his father.
In all, 37 of the 44 registered voters were able to cast their ballots in the APP for a turnout rate of 84 percent.
Lipa City election officer Candy Orense said the effort to establish pilot APPs was a success.
“We only had three weeks to prepare, and yet all feedback has been positive so far,” she said.
Orese added that finding the residence of PWD and elderly voters proved to be the tougher task for Comelec. “Maybe some of them are now under the custody of relatives that are living elsewhere,” she said.
The election officer said Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca herself visited the community early this month to persuade the target voters of Barangay Sabang to take part in the project.
Orense said she hopes that each of the 442 clustered precincts within Lipa City will be included in the APP program in 2016.
Gloria Ramos-Petallo, provincial election officer of Batangas, agreed that the process has to be “more inclusive” next time, noting that private commercial centers like SM malls will surely be tapped again.
SM City Lipa manager Liza Dimaculangan welcomes the proposal. The mall was the venue of the satellite voters’ registration three years ago and is no stranger to hosting government-sponsored activities, she said.
Local PWD voting rights advocate Ronel Del Rio, however, said putting up APPs in “isolated areas” like malls is unnecessary if senior citizens and PWDs can easily vote in regular precincts.
“Schools must be more PWD-friendly. After all, these facilities are also used http://mashsf.com/online/ not just during elections but during emergencies,” he said, using GLMES as an example. “There’s a structural defect, and the Department of Education should do something about it,” he said.
Del Rio also said moving from one voting location to another endangers the sanctity of the ballots.
“When you transport the ballots, how many people can see the votes cast? And let’s not forget to ask: Who will transport the voters to their precincts?” he said.
Still, Del Rio vowed to coordinate closely with local Comelec officials to come up with solutions to the issues he raised.