Sweet Victory for Noy, and could be a Heartbreaking Defeat for Mar

I never denied that I am supporting Ninoy Aquino for President, and basing from the results which by the way came out impressively faster than we expected, I am happy that Noy is not far from finally taking the seat of the next President of the Philippines.

On the other hand, Mar Roxas' stand for vice-presidency is still uncertain for he is neck to neck with his rival Jejomar Binay. Although Binay is confident that he will come out the winner of this race, he should not be too sure of his place (he leads by 800,000 votes over Roxas) because until the last votes are counted, only then shall we be certain who the next vice-president is.

If Mar doesn't win, it will surely be a heartbreaking defeat for him because he has already given up the race for presidency for Noy and he has been consistently on top in every surveys conducted prior to the election. Maybe if he had given more effort and tried harder with his campaign during the final leg, he might have a bigger chance of winning over Binay. But for now let's just wait for the last 4-5 Million votes not yet counted which could either make or break his dreams.

Worth the Wait

Today marked a very important event in the history of Philippines, it's the first automated national election - Halalan 2010. We headed early to our voting precincts so eager and excited to cast our votes hoping to make a difference in our government system. We came prepared with our lists of candidates but we did not anticipate the long hours of waiting on the line. We arrived 9:30 am and excruciatingly waited for 5 hours and 30 minutes before we were finally able to cast our votes using the PCOS machines.

indelible ink placed over the point finger after voting
photo c/o my friend, Marie

It took me just about 10 minutes to finish filling up the ballot form, and when it was time to feed the ballot form in the machine (PCOS) to validate my vote, I never thought that waiting for the word "congratulations" would be so nerve wracking. Thankfully, the word came out and I felt so relieved that my vote was officially read by the machine. Whew! We came home tired and hungry but I'd say, the long hours of waiting was worth it. Now, all we have to do is wait and be vigilant for the counting and canvassing of our votes.