ON MONDAY, May 13, teacher Marie Anthonette Rama will be in school early as she will serve, for the third time, in the electoral board.
Rama is among the 125 volunteer teachers serving as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) during Monday’s midterm elections at the City Central Elementary School (CCES).
Rama was 24 years old when she first started serving in the elections. She was teaching at Zapatera Elementary School during that time.
Rama said she decided to serve as one of the BEIs so she could get her service credit. But after her first try as BEI, something changed within her.
“It’s not just about that (getting service credit). It’s not just monetary but service (to people),” Rama said in Cebuano.
Rama said since she started serving in the elections, it was always a challenge for her. Despite the trainings given by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prepare them on the actual day of elections, it was always different on the day itself.
“You really cannot predict what will happen,” she said.
She said she experienced getting harassed by a supporter of a politician during the Sangguniang Kabataan and Barangay elections in 2018 after a person who identified himself as a lawyer of a politician approached her inside the precinct and asked her questions about the voting. Rama said this is not allowed.
According to Comelec rules, no one is allowed to enter the precinct unless it is his turn to vote.
Rama said she had to keep her cool and not get intimidated by the ramblings of the alleged lawyer.
To prepare teachers for a similar incident, the Comelec provided them with general instructions, book guidelines and seminars to keep them aware of their rights as election officers.
She added that aside from these kinds of preparation, teachers are preparing themselves emotionally.
“Just be ready because it will not be easy. Getting harassed is already part of the territory,” she said in Cebuano.
Rama clarified that most of the teachers she knows who will serve on Monday are non-partisan.
And despite the heated political contest for the mayoralty post in Cebu City, she is hoping for a peaceful elections.
Preparations
Two days to the elections, Rama, together with other teachers and volunteers, were already busy preparing for the elections.
On Friday, they conducted a final testing and sealing of the vote counting machines and voter registration verification machines. There were glitches reported including corrupted secure digital cards and malfunctioning scanners.
BEI chairman Duchess Veloso, who is also a teacher at CCES, confirmed that the lists of voters had already been posted outside the 21 precincts in the school on Saturday.
Veloso advised voters to look for their names on Sunday, since the school is open the whole day, so that by Monday, they will already know which precinct to go to.
Both Veloso and Rama hoped that the machines will not encounter any malfunction and the poll watchers and supporters of politicians will be cooperative too.
They said, in the past, supporters of different political entities got into trouble.
“Please be patient,” Rama advised voters.
There are over 19,000 registered voters in City Central Elementary School, which covers the five barangays of Kalubihan, Cogon Ramos, Ermita, Kamagayan and San Antonio.
Voters must also remember that taking pictures inside the polling precincts is not allowed, Veloso said. JJL