Facts on Philippine Barangay & SK Elections

Today, I learned that I am not qualified to vote for the SK elections since I am no longer 15 to 18. I originally thought the SK and Barangay Elections go hand-in-hand. Instead, I just learned that they just made the voting date the same for practical reasons. Why not hold it last May 2010 too? I only heard about the Sangguniang Kabataan after college when some elected candidate put it in his resume. Of course, I had not lived in the same house or neighborhood for more than 4 to 6 years in a row. For me, it was all school and house and workplace until I hit a hard, hard wall this year. This year, all the hype about automated elections and a more dynamic form of government persuaded me to vote in the May 2010 elections. Everything was easy because all the information was there from the voter registration to the precinct information to the election day process. I don't watch the news and read newspapers even then but I knew of the "Bilog Bilog" song long before the May elections. Now, I am not even sure if I qualify to vote for the Barangay Elections. I couldn't find anything in the internet to answer this simple qualifier question, "Does it mean that I can vote in the Barangay Elections if I was able to vote last May or is it a different registration?"

I did, however, find information on what to do assuming that you are qualified and you already know where to vote. I also didn't find the answer to this question, "Do I vote in the same precinct where I voted in May?" I know this next question is up to me but, "Who are the candidates?" I saw a bunch of the same flyers from one candidate in our doorstep (literally, bunched together and wet from the rain) around two weeks ago. I won't vote for him for littering. I was planning to vote for that one who sent our whole family (each of us has a separate letter addressed to us) a more "personal" letter and introduced herself. But then it is just another marketing tactic. There is also a group that gave a flyer and said that another group is threatening to take over and cause a break in the past administration's successes I just read about now. Should I fear (for what, they didn't say) and vote for them? I also heard that they will not use automated machines this time. I thought it was absurd and we wasted money on those machines for its one-time use (some would probably break down from non-use in the next national elections). You would have to list down all the candidates one by one for Barangay & SK Elections 2010. What if somebody misspells? What are the positions anyway? Read this if you are still interested about voting, especially the part under "Why are the elections manual and not automated?" After hours of searching, it was the only thing I found for first time voters worth mentioning, although it assumes you are already qualified and you already know your precinct. Even the COMELEC website is not working today for some weird reason. The temptation to just go on a vacation during this holiday sounds more logical. I wonder how this year's Barangay and SK elections will all turn out. Maybe if I find the candidates, they can answer my questions but I think by that time, it will all be too late since I only thought about voting tomorrow today when I found out about the voting date yesterday.