Today is the Elections.
You and your family woke up at dawn so you all could line up early. Elections could be a hassle sometimes especially if one lives in a huge barangay. Luckily you're still on your VL so the day is free. You and your friends (sans Shein since she's a Caviteña) would be meeting up at the Leni-Kiko Volunteer HQ in Katipunan later tonight for the mini program held there.
Your brother is trembling for this will be his first time voting. He kept asking you what to do, what not to do, double, triple, quadruple-checked his list of candidates to vote for (he already know the names and numbers by heart now), and memorized his voting precinct number. Ray just wants his first time to be memorable and not screw up like that spoiled man-child named S*ndr*. You reassured him it's like taking a test. You also told him the step-by-step procedure before, during, and after the voting. You will be there with him all throughout so he doesn't have to worry too much.
You and your brother's precincts will be at a local public elementary school, while your parents will be at the local public high school. And since it's still early, you were one of the first ones there. A police tent is situated not too far from the school and there are also a few more tents all over the school perimeter. That's bizarre.
Then more and more people handing out sample ballots and flyers loitered around. You frowned because isn't this illegal? You know damn well that this kind of thing has been happening since the dawn of time but there's just so many of them it's actually alarming. You're observing them and so far, there aren't any cash involved. But even then, it's still alarming. You and your brother have turned down all the persistent sample ballot offers.
"Hindi ba bawal 'yang mga gan'yan, Ate?" Ray asks you.
"Bawal. Pero tingnan mo, walang ginagawa 'yung mga pulis para pigilan sila kahit na harap-harapan na oh." You replied, annoyed.
ACAB through and through.
Due to the amount of flyers being passed around, the school perimeter is littered with papers and other handed out merchandises, and it's not even 8 in the morning yet. Eventually, the guard lets you and your brother inside the school gate and you two instantly went to the bulletin board to check your cluster and room. You're at the same cluster so you will be sharing the same room. That's a huge relief for Ray.
You're waiting on a line once more so you two are busy checking your socials for updates and morning news. You snapped a selfie and sent it to your friends' GC to tell them how patriotic you are because you're practicing your right. They responded with "ok ure so awesome for doing the bare minimum, siz!" and other hilarious backhanded compliments.
Other voters after you inquires for clarification whether they're on the right queue, you gladly answered their questions and pointed the correct direction to confused ones. It would be a huge waste of energy to be on the wrong line the whole time.
The teachers overseeing the elections signalled that the voting will start in a few and shortly, the line moved. You can feel your brother's nerves reverberating off of him in waves so you patted his shoulder twice to reassure him. You chuckled under your breath because his bimpo is almost soaked through from his incessant perspiration.
Your phone vibrated once. Twice. Thrice. So on and on and on. You pulled it from your pocket to check whatever caused the influx of notifications. Apparently it's the Robredo sisters greeting the group chats 'good morning'. You briefly reacted to each one until you focus on the last, the 'Team Bunso' GC.
Jill greeted everyone with a chirpy voice message instead of chat, as she's very lazy to type. Before playing the message, you turned your volume down to the minimum and aligned the speaker to your ear.
"Good morning, guys! Go out and vote. Ingat kayong lahat. See you all soon!"
You smiled at the sound of her voice. As usual, it's sweet and feminine and very Jillian. Other members of the group chat replied with GIFs, selfies, etc. You only responded with a heart react to everyone's messages as you scroll through. When Casey points out that you're not replying, even in the other group chats, you rolled your eyes and begrudgingly sent a "nandito ako lol morning peeps. ingats all :)". Jill reacted to your message with a laughing emoji.
And that's it.
The GC went on and everyone starts talking about various topics now, so you muted all of it for the time being. You pocketed your phone as you wait in line once more.
Since yesterday, Jill would say something on the GC and you would reply accordingly and vice versa, but that's all, never taking the convo to direct messages. She greeted everyone's mothers and mother figures a 'Happy Mother's Day', you did the same, end.
The last time you properly spoke to Jillian was after the Makati MDA, when you told the young woman you'd miss her. You thought nothing of it. It's not that you're sick of being with Jill almost 24/7 the past few weeks, you just also don't mind this distance for now. It's fine, it's not like you two ended things on a bad note or whatever. Heck, who said things has to end? Right? Real friends can go on without constant conversing. Everything's fine.
You and your brother will be one of the first few who could vote so you prepared your ID, pen, and list. You went through the process swiftly and now has a ballot to fill in. You took a deep breath to compose yourself. The nerves has now kicked in. Oks lang, 'di kelangang magmadali. 'Di baleng matagalan at least tama ang ginagawa. Minsan lang 'to, you thought while shading the circles carefully.
You're down to the last five on your senatoriables when a noise in the front of the classroom stole your and everyone else's attentions. It's the first voter to finish, fussing over something with a teacher. You stared and listened intently.
"Hala paano po ito?" The voter asked.
The teacher scratched his head and examined the machine. "Ayusin lang po namin Ma'am, ha. Pasensya na."
The voter huffed in frustration as she's holding the folder that hides her ballot. She checked her wrist watch. "Matatagalan pa po ba? May trabaho pa po kasi ako. Inagahan ko nga sana para makaboto kaso may problema pa," she said.
One teacher continues to check the seemingly defective machine and another one spoke up. "Kung nagmamadali po kayo, p'wede niyo pong iwan ang balota niyo rito. Kami na lang po magpapasok kapag naayos na po ang VCM," he offered.
You frowned at that and felt your palms getting clammy. Hindi ba bawal 'yun?
"'Di ba dapat kami ang magpapasok kasi kailangan namin makita 'yung resibo?" The woman replied, visibly confused at the offer.
"Opo, pero kung nagmamadali lang talaga kayo, Miss. Kung gusto niyo pong mag-hintay, okay lang din, diyan na lang po kayo sa gilid muna. Kaso baka matagalan pa po kasi hindi rin namin sure anong nangyari sa machine."
The woman bit her lip as she contemplates her options. She did voice out she's in a rush due to work, but you can see in her face how conflicted she is whether to guard her vote or let these 'watchers' be. A few more beats and a sigh, she answers, "Maghihintay na lang po ako." And she stands on the side of the room.
You slightly sighed in relief yourself and continued shading the circles. You scanned over your ballot to double check, triple check that you got everything correctly, stands up beside the waiting woman seeing as the machine is still malfunctioning. Ray also stood beside you when he's done, clutching his ballot delicately. Some people who were really in a rush just left their ballots and went on their way. You're worried their votes, no matter who it's for, will be tampered with. Some people were patient enough to wait with the rest of you.
Due to the increasing number of voters who'd rather wait until they themselves could feed their ballots to the machine, the queue also halted in the time being. Some people outside the classroom expressed irritation at the speed.
Hours have passed and the machine is still broken. It's almost noon. Usually, voting takes an hour or two max, waiting in line included. You're getting frustrated as well but you kept your composure for the future of the country lies on this, every vote counts. Your eyes flitted to the stacked shaded ballots left by the others. You took a deep breath to squash down the election anxiety within the corners of your brain. The lady before you asked the volunteer teachers if the repairing would still take long, like always, their answer is that "they're unsure." Your palms are itching to slap the machine to (hopefully) make it work.
This election is really fishy. How can the machines be broken during the election day? Didn't the C*M*L*C do a dry run to ensure everything is up to standard? You're not sure if it's still called vote buying, but why are there so many people handing out sample ballots near the school? And why are the police not doing anything about it?
As you ponder about these questions, Ray is discreetly checking his socials for updates regarding the elections. There are thousands of online reports all over the country about defective machines, intimidation on the voting centers, unorganized queue, etc. It's chaos, and at this point, it's not surprising anymore that the C*M*L*C is being mum about it. Non-affiliated groups and other volunteer efforts are even working harder to protect the integrity of the democracy, hopefully their actions are enough to keep it intact.
Since the campaign period, the commission has played favorites. Until the election day, they're still playing favorites.
(...Or perhaps the elections have long been bought and the people are unaware.)
Your brows frown in mixed emotions. You're uncertain whether it's from exhaustion, frustration, anger, anxiety, or all of the above. Waiting all day is no problem to you, but others can't afford to do so, and you understand why some has to leave their ballots behind. Still, why is practicing a basic human right dehumanizes its citizens? This election is truly something else, something diabolical is working its hands as they manipulate the people and the system.
Your wristwatch buzzed off, signaling that lunchtime is over. The machine is still broken, and your feet and legs are starting to sleep from the continuous standing. You stretched and made your neck pop.
"Ate, tapos na raw bumoto sina Mama." Ray whispers to you. You only nodded in acknowledgement.
At least your parents can go home now. You know your father would still drive around to get some income, would have to double his efforts to make up for the lost hours. You did tell him he can just relax around today, but he's as stubborn as a mule.
You're running on empty and skipped breakfast as you're not really a breakfast person, so you opened up a candy to at least maintain your blood sugar and not faint.
"Hays, matagal pa ba?" Someone behind you mumbles.
"Baka naman abutin na kami ng gabi rito!" Another complains.
"Maaari niyo naman pong iwanan ang mga balota ninyo dito, kami na po magpapasok. Hindi naman po namin gagalawin 'yan. Tsaka marami pa pong nasa labas oh. Para na rin ho sana makausad na ang pila." A watcher answered.
"Ay naku, baka dayain niyo pa kami. 'Di bale na! Kahit maghapon-magdamag pa tayo!" A middle-aged man answered.
Some people groaned in frustration but held their ground. You only sighed for the nth time that day, reserving your leftover energy.
You're partly worried that this could discourage other voters and just go home instead of going through such a painstaking process. Not everyone could waste a whole day of waiting for they also have lives of their own, but you're hoping deep within your heart that they'd do a noble sacrifice. This happens once every six years, and a day of sacrifice is way better than another six years of regret and/or another bad governance.
This is literally now or never, good versus evil.
Thirty minutes or so have passed and finally! The heavens smiled down upon the residents of Brgy. Krus na Ligas as the machines are now miraculously working. It took everything of your willpower, but as you feed the ballot on the box and get your receipt, scan it over and over and over again before putting it inside a locked box, your spirits lifted tenfold.
You and your brother left the school with the feeling of accomplishment (and tiredness) and headed to a nearby eatery to eat brunch together.
--
The Katipunan volunteer HQ is filled with people. Volunteer artists are entertaining the mini crowd as everyone is gathered, waiting for the unofficial results of the elections. Obviously the presidentiable and vice-presidentiable couldn't grace the venue as they're home with families of their own, but Leni and Kiko thanked everyone who continues to support their ticket.
You are hanging out with your friends and video calling Shein. The energy in the environment is palpable, emotions are understandably high as the anticipation for the partial counting is keeping everyone rattled. Will 2016 repeat, or will the dark forces actually win this time? There's a lot at stake here so the anxiety is off the roof.
An ominous feeling blankets the headquarters.
A livestream of the partial unofficial counting is flashed on an LED screen at the left side of the stage.
Soon enough, the numbers are now starting to filter in. The moving digits distracted everyone from the entertainment on stage, attentions fixated on the screen. You held your friends close as you're all watching with bated breaths. The frontrunner is apparently still the frontrunner, but VP Leni's numbers are close behind. Even though it's early, it's still alarming. You're wishing, hoping, praying on a Higher Force out there that although the dictator's son is leading at the moment, there will be some divine intervention that could turn the tides.
Maybe this would indeed be another 2016. It would seem as though VP Leni is losing and then a winning clutch would take place and would block the dictator's son. But still, you can never be too relaxed.
It's overstimulating, you need a distraction. If you were a smoker, you would've lit up a cigarette by now. If you had a flask with you, it's probably empty by now. You peeled your gaze away momentarily to peek at the murals decorating the walls instead to ground yourself. The hope in your heart is still as strong as ever despite the negative whispers in your brain.
You know the Filipinos will win. You have to.
Imagine the repercussions if the tyrants came out on top? The Philippines is already downtrodden, and the economy already on the brink of collapse even before the pandemic hit, the reputation of the country will be tarnished even more because not too long ago, that evil family was removed by the people thru justice on the streets, and now they're almost back in power. The world never forgot, but the citizens have/had. How ridiculous and infuriating.
You're a jumble of emotions, too lost in the present and the future you could cry.
Your friends checked in on their social media for other updates. Some parts of the country are still not done voting due to malfunctioning machines, etc., yet the transmission of the votes is questionably rapid, and some citizens are also being deprived of practicing their right. Everything is bizarre and not adding up. What the hell is going on?
True, the turnouts of the sorties aren't enough testament about the numbers that would back the Tropang Angat ticket, but even then, it's a glimpse of how powerful and revolutionary the movement is, add the H2H efforts as well that miraculously converted some apologists. Somehow, that could still translate into the numbers of voters for Leni-Kiko, right? But the current partial unofficial results are being weird.
The prior neck-and-neck fight is becoming a landslide win for the dictator's son and the inutile's daughter.
You can feel your world slowing down as the sweat on your back trickles down to the base of your spine. Your eyes are getting hazy due to the tears starting to pool under your lashes. It's late and the transmission of the votes is now at 70% and Leni is starting to cement her position as the second placer.
It doesn't make sense. Leni was a relatively unknown politician back in 2016 and won the vice-presidential race... Six years later, she has become relevant and even overshadowed the president especially during the pandemic, so what the fuck is going on?
The first tear dropped from your left eye. You're stunned, angry, sad, panicking. The last time you shed tears over the elections was when Miriam Defensor-Santiago finished last back in the 2016 presidential race.
The people are losing and it's not making sense how.
All the kakampinks' hearts here at the HQ are racing and breaking at the same time. The rowdy and energetic crowd before were rendered silent from the results. There is no dry eye here.
You and your friends held each other close, as though this embrace is the only thing that keeps you all sane.
There's still hope, right? This is only the unofficial partial counting. There's still hope.
They said that it's always the darkest before the dawn, but will the dawn ever come, or we'd all just get used to weaving our way in the dark, and will settle and clung on to faint glimmers?
How many more times are we going to hope for the best and just let God do the rest?
Were the people too stupid to believe obvious lies and propaganda again, or were we all cheated?
Your shock and sadness morphed into grief and rage.
It's midnight and the distance between M*rc*s' and Robredo's votes are getting farther and farther.
You're still in denial but you're more furious. You refuse to accept whatever the fuck is going on, because you believe deep in your heart that the game is rigged.
It has happened before, no doubt it could happen again. Knowing all the corrupt living politicians in the history are all allied together... The possibility that they did something is huge.
They got scared, they didn't expect how momentous the people's campaign was, so they have to do their magic tricks because they'd lose.
You will march on the streets tomorrow. You're sure the people would organize and demand transparency from the C*M*L*C. The country is notorious for having the most expensive yet slowest internet in the world, so the fast transmission of votes from malfunctioning machines is blatantly obvious.
Genuine supporters of the other camp are gloating and celebrating on the internet, some who were undercover apologists start showing themselves, mocking the grief of kakampinks. Some pink supporters are also now pointing fingers and blaming the masses for being too dumb for voting the dictator's son, too blinded by rage from the sickening results. The country is being divided.
It's half past midnight, almost time to go home for you. You want to bury yourself in bed and perhaps cry to sleep and pray harder that these are all just silly nightmare, that everything is different once you wake up. You know the elections isn't the only solution, but it still hurts. You were full of hope about the good kind of change that could take place if things went your way.
You wiped your face swiftly, would hold back the waterworks until you're home.
"Bakit ganito?" JD tearfully asked, just as shaken.
"Tangina talaga ng mga Un*th**v*s!" Aries said in disdain.
You swallowed the lump in your throat and breathed deeply to keep your emotions in check (for now).
Your eyes flickered to the murals done by volunteer artists on the walls of the HQ. They were all painted not too long ago, and the memory of doing one with Tricia is still fresh. Those were the 'happier' times, because it sparked something within the Filipinos. The stakes are high, but at least there's that chance to win the fight.
Now, it's different.
The light at the end of the tunnel seems more distant.
An hour has passed, and VP Leni issued a statement to everyone, mostly to her supporters. You all stayed for a while to watch it.
Your president is not conceding. She comforted everyone because she knows too well how aggravated and dismayed the kakampinks are at the circumstances. Her words still held hope and assurance. Her stance is still as dignified as ever, seemingly unaffected by it for she knows she did everything she could. A true leader. A real president.
You bit your lip, and your initial fury has simmered down a bit for your candidate showed up again. Leni always knows what to say and when to show up. Kiko also seconded her statement by adding up to it on his own socials.
The Filipinos deserve better. If ever your candidates did 'lose', it is the citizens who really lost.
Leni also said there will be a thanksgiving event on May 13 and that she will be there. She ended her short statement with a prayer that everyone would find peace on what's in store for the future.
You sniffled a bit and mustered up a smile to your still crying friends. Leni's brief presence somewhat consoled them.
"Uwi na tayo. Magkikita-kita pa tayo sa lansangan mamaya."
--
With a heavy heart, you quietly unlocked the front door. It's now 2:35 in the morning, everyone is probably asleep by now.
Except your mother.
She's patiently waiting for you at the living room couch, eyes swollen and red from crying about the results. You found her doing one of her nervous ticks while blankly staring at nothing in particular.
Your eyes met and the image of your mother in a depressed state crumbled your flimsy walls.
Your chin trembles, chest tightening, knees weakening as you finally let yourself feel. Your mother immediately went to you to trap you in a hug as you both cry about the future.
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note: hallo! huge apologies for disappearing for a while! :>
aside from the massive lack of inspo and matinding block (ugh), pinu-put off ko talagang isulat 'tong chapter na 'to kasi super triggering pa rin siya for me lol. sobrang hirap niya isulat. but ito na, tinapos ko na. not happy with how it turned out kasi parang kulang pero bahala na hahahuhu.
now that we're actually done with the election season, baka mas mapadalas na update ko. SANA! kasi i understand how frustrating it can be kapag matagal mag-update ang writer ksks (this is just me having an insanely short attention span!). kaya i get it, i get you. i swear i do! i will try to be better and not ghost!!!! haha.
part talaga ng pagiging slow burn 'yung bihira lang ako mag-update, e. chz!!!
also, ang cute ni jill :( na-miss ko siya charaught. thanks for signs of life, miss girly! grabe, hirap talaga maging jill stan ha. crumbs lang, sapat na. <3 minsan wala pang fes kapag siya mismo ang nag-popost, pero like i said, oksi lang!!! i really love the private mysterious type of women talaga e as a daldalera and oversharer. charaught ulit! haha
anhaba na ng note ko ksks. sorry daming sabe ni teh! ingat kayo lahat! :>