Woman of the hour: Aimee’s birthday wish

By EJ Dominic Fernandez
The most unlikely “star” in this year’s election in Davao City was none of the candidates, but City
Board of Canvassers (CBOC) chairman, lawyer Aimee Ampoloquio, the election officer of the first district.
Ampoloquio celebrated her 42nd birthday yesterday, May 18, wishing for the canvassing to be over so that she could take a rest from election duties and its attendant ruckus.
“It’s normal to have all eyes on us, I have experienced election canvassing in the past, and all those controversies will soon just settle down.”
She said this in referrence to the controversial term “bugok” she had earlier tagged teachers serving as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), and the hypertension she experienced which somehow cause a delay in the canvassing. The resulting hubbub turned her into an instant celebrity and good copy for media.
If she had said “bulok” it would have meant stupid or dumb, but “bugok” means rotten. Rotten is a strong word to attribute to people, because it can be compared to the idiom, “a rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel,” which then would mean that the teachers serving as BEIs were the rotten apples in the election exercise.
Some of these BEIs may also have experienced a rise in their blood pressure, or hypertension, while doing election duty in the precincts but still continued to do their job. Ampoloquio, on the other hand, had to take a two to three hour breaks from the canvassing due to hypertension.
Ampoloquio continued working on her birthday last Saturday as the CBOC needed to finalize the documentation on the elections in Davao City that same day.
During the proclamation of the second district councilors last Friday, it is hard not to notice the bouquet of flowers on her table which she said was a gift for her birthday. She didn’t say from whom. She even showed media her swollen thumb, darkened by ink from imprinting her thumb mark and signing all the papers related to the canvassing.
She had her moment of “truth” as an election officer that she will remember for a long time.