IF you have a locked Facebook profile and your name doesn’t sound familiar to me, please don’t send me a friend request. Operative word: locked. You know, locked in. Locked away. Lock the door. Under lock and key. Why have a Facebook account in the first place? Delete it already.
These locked profiles usually have profile photos of unfamiliar faces. Pair that with their unfamiliar names, and there I am, as clueless as a voter on Election Day for barangay captain and barangay councilors—he looks at the official ballot and wonders, Who are these people?
By the way, the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) have been moved to November 2026. And the barangay officials’ three-year terms have been extended to four years, thus, giving the 2026 winners more time to serve the madlang pehpohl.
I have finally transferred my Comelec registration to my current barangay. This voting journey began in Sampaloc, Manila, and then to downtown Cagayan de Oro where I remained as a voter even after becoming an uptowner. For sentimental reasons. I grew up in that barangay. That’s where we played hide and seek, badminton, patintero, bato lata, etc. That’s where I learned how to bake.
Our house was a favorite hangout spot since it was right there in the city proper, complete with yummy snacks: Mama’s custard cake, spaghetti, egg sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, peanuts, brownies, cookies, biscuits, potato chips, corn chips, turrones de mani, soda, etc.
The more I was convinced to remain there as a voter when our barangay’s precincts were among the lucky ones relocated from Cagayan de Oro City Central School to Centrio Mall in Election 2025.
A few months ago, while roaming around SM City CDO Uptown, I saw people manning tables with laptops right outside the supermarket's indoor entrance. I’m the type of person that always asks about who, what, when, where, why, how, so, I asked. And learned it’s a Comelec satellite registration site. Including transfers? Yes. How? Photocopy of a valid ID. Photocopy where? Third floor.
That’s how I morphed into an uptown voter. Finally. It’s about time.
Let’s see if my precinct will be at SM uptown for this year’s BSKE. No need to travel far. Yay. But as a Namfrel CDO/Mis Or core team member, I still have to go to its downtown headquarters after voting.
I’m now looking forward to the BSKE since that will be the first time for me to vote with my family in the current barangay. They transferred their Comelec registration years ago. I was the only one who remained as a downtown registered voter in the family. But if I were clueless on my former barangay’s candidates, some of whom I presumably grew up with in the neighborhood, all the more I’d be clueless now. Good luck to me.
Is it too early for barangay candidates to campaign? Yes, of course. But it’s never too early to make paramdam. Making their presence felt. Which can be a challenge if they now live in another barangay. Oops. That’s when they need social media for their paramdam moves. No locked Facebook profiles, please.
