E. T. Suarez
Ambassador Henrietta de Villa, head of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), an accredited citizen’s arm of the Comelec in many past elections, has been elected chairwoman of the National Citizens Movement for Free Election (Namfrel), another election watchdog which created Operation Quick Count (OQC).
De Villa took over the post vacated by businessman Jose Concepcion who headed Namfrel for many years. At the time of her election, Eddie Go, who is now the treasurer, was the acting chairman as Concepcion was then on leave.
Former ambassador to the Holy See, De Villa also headed for many years the PPCRV, a bona fide national parish-based, non-partisan citizens’ movement duly organized by and composed of civic-minded citizens drawn from the various sectors of society and mandated to help form the civic consciousness of Filipino voters and campaign for honest, meaningful and peaceful elections.
In the Aug. 11, 2008 fully automated elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), De Villa travelled extensively in the six provinces comprising the Muslim region to see for herself how the voting, counting of votes and canvassing of results were conducted.
Upon her election, De Villa announced a new Executive Committee for Namfrel with Jose Cuisia Jr. as vice chairman, Eddie Go as treasurer, and Eric Alvia as secretary general. She also announced the creation of three committees with their respective coordinators: Evelyn Singson for finance, Dammy Magbual for membership, and Cora Ignacio for projects.
To make sure the May 10, 2010 elections will be fully covered and that Namfrel volunteers are prepared to take on an automated election system, De Villa is convening a National Conference Workshop on Oct. 8-10, 2008 at the Traders Hotel on Roxas Blvd., Manila.
Invited to speak are Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Reforms, Comelec Chairman Jose A.R. Melo and Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento and Leonardo L. Leonida, and political and economic analyst Romy Bernardo.
De Villa said with the automation of 2010 elections almost a certainty, both Namfrel and PPCRV will train their attention on the cleansing of the voters’ list.
"No matter how clean the machines in computerized elections are, if you feed them with a voters’ list that is garbage, these machines will also print out garbage," De Villa said.
She said the conference workshop aims to recraft a new vision, mission and values for Namfrel.
"The new Namfrel leadership will listen to its field operations managers on what they believe Namfrel should do for the 2010 elections," De Villa said.
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