A teacher looks forward to resting from tedious poll work

High school teacher Gertrudes Cielo Farias will finally retire from work on Friday, after teaching for 36 years. As she retires, one of the things she will no longer have to do is serve in the upcoming 2010 elections. “But its okay, I’ve already done my part," said the still-energetic Farias, who had been served as an election officer since the Marcos regime. She is just one of 216 teachers in Ramon Magsaysay High School (RMHS) in Cubao, Quezon City, who are assigned and deployed to six nearby barangays as election officers, poll clerks and election inspectors. Farias recalled the process that teachers serving as election officers go through during election day, from picking up election paraphernalia and setting up the assigned election precinct before dawn, to keeping the order (while keeping one’s patience) when the people arrive to cast their votes. “Pero ang delubyo magsisimula sa counting [but the hard part is when the counting starts]," she said. Vote counting, which starts at 3 p.m. when voting officially closes, can last until the wee hours of the next day, usually until 3 to 4 a.m. Farias said the only break teachers get is one meal break before counting starts. “Maraming dapat gawin [there are a lot of things that need to be done], from tallying the votes, marking each vote on the board, to making sure that it matches the ballots," she said, adding that the presence of poll watchers hired by politicians does not help. “If you forget to affix a signature or a thumbmark, kukwestyunin na ng mga watchers [the watchers will question it]," she said. She also shared some incidents where teachers are blamed for reporting wrong figures, usually getting complaints from losing candidates. And while it hasn’t happened to her or anyone she knows, she also said that violence or ballot-snatching make their duty hard and even dangerous. But while the manual way of counting votes is tiring and menial, Farias admittedly said that there are certain advantages to doing it the old-fashioned way. “Siguro mas-madali nga at mabilis kung automated, pero may mga natutulungan na teachers pag-manual, nabibigyan sila ng extra income [the automated counting may be faster and easier, but manual counting helps the teachers who are given a source of extra income. “At alam ko in my heart na hindi mandaraya ang mga teachers [and I know in my heart that the teachers wont cheat]," she said. RMHS principal Josefina Pescado said that they have not yet heard about the teachers’ participation in the upcoming elections, whether the counting would beautomated or manual. But she assured that their teachers would be ready for whatever duty they have to do for May 2010. “Kung merong mga bagong innovations para mapaayos at mapadali, no problem. Kung wala naman, sanay kami sa manual [If there are new innovations to make it better and easier, no problem. Otherwise, were used to doing it manually]," Pescado said. Pescado said she cannot say whether the automated counting will push through, but they’re ready to help out in whatever way they can. “There is no reason for the teachers to say no [to their duty of serving during the elections]," she said. “It’s not the money that we’re after. It’s our duty as teachers." As for Farias, while she thinks that the automated counting of votes will make things easier for volunteers and candidates alike, as the results will be processed much faster, she only has one wish for the upcoming elections. “Sana maging mapayapa at maayos, wala sanang masaktan [I hope it remains peaceful and nobody gets hurt]," she said. - GMANews.TV