QUEZON CITY – Voters scrambled looking for their names and their precincts on Monday, election day, in schools that had been turned temporarily into virtual billboards by local and national candidates.
While the elections appeared generally peaceful and orderly so far, there were still the usual problems and complaints.
The entire perimeter fence of the Quezon City High School was strewn with campaign posters. Other voters still gamely posed showing their fans printed with the faces and names of candidates.
Curiously, a long queue of people was observed snaking into a certain house at least a hundred meters away from the polling center.
Persons with disability (PWDs) had a hard time voting because there was not a single assistant manning the supposed PWD holding area at the Quezon City High School, Scout Ybardolaza St., this city.
Stroke survivor Ed Lacanlae, 60 years old, Scout Limbaga said he was disappointed when he arrived at the polling precinct at 8am and found out there was no one to assist him since he could not climb the flight of stairs in his condition.
“Pagdating ko rito ni isang assistant wala man lang. Dapat meron,” Lacanlae lamented. He claimed he was one of the authors who wrote the department memorandum on PWD voting having worked at the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
He said he even witnessed one senior citizen who opted to go home without voting because of the same predicament.
Another stroke survivor, Selerina Mendoza, 56 years old, Scout Fuentebella Ext., complained that “assistants wearing Commission on Elections shirts” did not assist her even when her precinct is on the second floor of the building.
“Ang husband ko ang naglilibot para hanapin kung saang presinto ako ngayon boboto,” Mendoza said.
