Last Saturday was the scheduled run of the COMELEC’s local visits for voters registrations at our village, and so of course having pondered when is the best time to pay a visit to the municipal hall and go through the long process of getting registered, I took this opportunity to finally get it done and with less hassle (example of procrastination paying off).

It was scheduled from 8-am to 5pm, and although I got there right after breakfast there were already a lot of people lined up. Try to picture this: an enclosed covered court (like this: []), one half of which is just for picking up the registration form. The line for this simple process runs along the wall of the half court (the upper half of this [] ), and then doubles back when it reaches the end to form a second row along the wall. Judging by the pace it would have taken me more than 2 hours to get a form, which was kind of ok for me since I got all morning. Then I saw someone I knew, way ahead of the line, and I thought of how long he must have waited (and still had to wait). Still more than a hundred people between us, he almost at his turn to get the form and me getting fired up for some competition, I stood up and approached a friendly COMELEC officer. A little asking, a little explaining, a little ID showing and voila, I got my form and skipped about 2 hours more of waiting in line, ahead of my friend.

I hurried over to the other half of the covered court to widen my lead some more. It was here that people filled up the form that took hours for them to get. I started answering, and embarrassingly I had to pause to think about what to write in “city/municipality”. I figured it out a sec later, but it was 1 more than it should have taken. More on that later.

After accomplishing the form and after the place where they add other information only COMELEC people knew, I headed straight for line for the picture taking. I already know that getting my voter’s ID was next to impossible, so I thought this, the other half of the 6 hours of the whole registration process, was useless. They only had one camera which meant they could only accommodate 1 person at a time. The line stretched for another 1 and a half hour. You know, if they had two cameras it would have gone twice as fast, but apparently they didn’t think of that. I got to the line, 6 persons ahead of my friend who when he saw me asked “how did you get ahead of me?!” All I did was wave and smile, though what I really wanted to do was shout “In your face!!!1!111!1!1!!!!” so the whole court would hear.


If you think about it, this process shouldn't even last half an hour.


Back to municipalities. I never really cared or understood the distinction of cities and municipalities. I only got to appreciate (notice) the supposed relative autonomy of provinces and municipalities during my first practicum/working tour of the Philippines. Maybe because for those living at the national capital like me, local government units lose their distinction since we are right beside the seat of government, or LGUs actions are lost in the noise coming from the congress or I just haven’t had a chance to do business with our municipality which made it invisible to me. I always thought that Cainta, Angono, Antipolo, Binangonan etc. were just names for places. Only when out to the far provinces did I see the importance of municipalities. Being so far away from Manila people turn to their local government units for support and services.

However these LGUs are still dependent on the national government. They wait for information materials to be brought to them before they can distribute them. There are like colonies waiting for word from their masters in Manila. That’s why I say give the LGUs more freedom since they are the ones who know the reality of their respective localities. They should be capable of more independent action and not reliant on the national government which is bogged down by endless political bickering. That’s why I believe that Federalism is the way for the Philippines. Decentralized autonomous states or provinces, able to decide and act on their own, according to their own unique realities. Even with little traveling you will realize how diverse the Philippines really is. Drive two hours away from Manila in any direction and you’ll get to a place where people already speak another dialect. Drive two hours more and the dialect changes yet again. Unity in diversity, like what the EU says (EU subjects kicking in), not forceful integration into one homogenous national identity.