Maybe next time

I bet, the main reason why we Filipinos find Pacquiao's victories in boxing exciting is because, when everything is on the line, he is able to do what needs to be done in the grandest of ways. And he has done that several times already. It is so unlike our attempts at getting that ever elusive gold in the Olympics, or our attempts at regaining basketball glory in Asia.

Indeed, there is joy in being able to do things in the best of ways. And there is great frustration when, even though we all want not to, we mess up. I have a feeling that pretty much describes our frustration with our elections. A lot of us want it clean, honest, peaceful, and orderly. We all want it to be conducted in the most efficient way. But alas, over and over we see the opposite.

Every election day, we wake up to news report detailing the woes of teachers in getting election paraphernalia. And when we go to our polling places, we have to go through this exercise of surviving the chaos at the school entrance just to know what is your precinct and where is it located. There is no shortage of people who couldn't find their names.

At the precinct, we have to again look at another list to know your number. Chances are the list is not in alphabetical order. Then we get our ballot and get ready to vote behind a folder masquerading as a mini-booth. Then you drop your vote in the ballot box and hope that come night time when teachers start counting, the school's power fuses will not overload and plunge everyone into total darkness. With ballots all in the open.

We await the results and the declaration of the winners weeks, maybe a month, after. Then, we hope that in the next election, things will be better. There is a big chance it will not be. But we will still vote. Just like we did today. See the various tallies at Inquirer.net and abs-cbn.news.com.