barangay carnival

8am i was part of the many who trooped to their neighborhood public elementary school to cast vote on the barangay chairman and kagawads. forgive me but i still am not so used to 'barangay' as a permanent fixture on my philippine postal address. i still consider this as a fairly recent geo-political segmentation scheme. i still remember i get confused on whether to use barrio or barangay. but surprisingly, ive been seeing this in more and more forms, even those that are supposedly 'globalized'. i guess the government has done a better job of implementing this. i mean im still getting used to the postal code (zip code), now, i have to figure out my barangay pa. hahaha.

i had trouble finding my name. what else is new. but luckily, some people who knew my dad saw us searching and directed us to our precinct. super sungit pa nung teacher manning the registration. akala mo maganda. kainis.

i took out my list (provided by my driver) and legibly wrote down my candidates. no, i didnt study the profiles of the 7 running for the chairmanship. i trust my driver. and besides, he's more aware of this, since his brother is running for kagawad.

do i take this seriously? not as much as the national elections. all i know is that i need the barangay chairman to resolve the petty disputes (first court), to hand out clearances, and to host the liga. siguro naman, they wont do as much harm as the congressmen and governors, etc. when it comes to kurakot.

then again, my driver tells me outgoing barangay chairman was able to build a house for himself, buy two vehicles including a pajero during his 18yr term. hmm. for a full time job that nets about P15T supposedly, and no other major business? may be i am wrong...

so as i cast my vote, i realize i am putting my full confidence vote behind my driver, who knows that the chairman he recommends will be clean and honest.

i hope.