Malabon residents ride boats to vote

MANILA, Philippines - Residents of the submerged Artex Subdivision in Malabon City yesterday went boating to elect their candidates for the 2013 elections.

As early as 5 a.m., voters from the flooded slum left their shanties to ride makeshift boats and cruised the murky waters to reach Panghulo Elementary School.

“Never mind if it’s still dark. They wanted to vote early,” said Tessie Derilio, one of the bangkeras, who make their living ferrying residents.

The situation is no longer new for the residents, said another bangkera, Evelyn Balisi. “We are used to it, because this area has been submerged for 10 years. What is new is that we earned more because more people voted,” she said.

Artex is part of the 8.5-hectare flood-stricken land in Barangay Panghulo, according to Balisi, her youngest child was one year old when the floodwaters rose and “never subsided.”

There are no other means of transportation, Balisi added, because “we are not allowed to pass (the neighboring) Carisma Village or that will be trespassing.”

“We were also like this (during the previous) elections,” Derilio said.

Derilio hopes that government leaders could finally solve their problem after the elections. She said they were told that solutions “are already in place to help us out.”