Sunday, December 31, 2006 Registrants swamp Comelec despite rain, long lines By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AMID the political turmoil at the capital and the perceived public cynicism, the youth remain hopeful that their votes will count.
Jenny Lazarte, 18, will vote for the first time in May. After the elections, she hopes the bad roads and poor drainage system in their neighborhood will be repaired.
Lazarte is one of the thousands of first-time registrants who braved the rain and the crowd at the Cebu City Commission on Elections (Comelec) offices yesterday.
Accompanied by her grandparents, she lined up at 5 a.m.
By 3 p.m., she was still waiting for her turn.
“Excited gyud ko makabotar kay ganahan makaapil sa pagpili kung kinsa nga mayor ang makatabang sa mga tawo, ug kinsa ang makapaayo sa among mga dalan ug mga kanal (I want to have a say in choosing the leaders who can fix our roads and drainage system),” Lazarte said.
She also hopes that the voter’s identification card that she will soon have will help her complete the requirements for employment.
Despite the heavy downpour, registrants refused to go home and continued to stay in line, which extended from the Comelec office along Osmeña Blvd. to as far as the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral on the next block.
The thick crowd drenched in rain caught the attention of Cebu City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, prompting him to go inside Comelec to check on the status of the registration.
He instructed the Department of Public Services (DPS) to install additional tents in front of Comelec, which were put up yesterday afternoon to provide shelter for the registrants.
“There’s really a lot of people and most of them are students and young ones. I hope this is a sign that they are now interested in politics and in the elections,” Fernandez told Sun.Star Cebu.
But Slay Budiongan, 18, and his friends did not mind waking up early in the morning and getting wet in the rain.
They arrived at the Comelec office at 3 a.m. but he was not able to register until 3 p.m. yesterday.
“I think the vote of the youth will make a difference. Whatever other people say, I still believe in the electoral process and I think that as citizens, it is our obligation to our country to vote,” said Budiongan, a university student.
Karina Bernalez, 52, accompanied her daughter to make sure she will be able to vote for the first time in the May 2007 elections.
“Importante gyud nga ang mga tawo mamotar aron naay kausaban. Ang resulta sa eleksyon dako kaayo og impact sa unsay mahitabo sa atong kinabuhi (It’s important to vote. The results of the elections have a huge impact on our lives),” she said.
