About 200 diocesan and religious priests from the Cebu Archdiocese were challenged to teach their parishioners how to help ensure clean and honest May 2010 elections.
In a forum at the Betania Retreat House in Lahug, Cebu City, the priests, including Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, received instructions about the new system of voting so that they could relay these to parishioners.
Rene Buac, Commission on Elections Central Visayas (Comelec-7) regional director, conducted the training of the priests.
Vidal said he does not have any problem with poll automation but only about the conduct of defeated candidates.
“I do not have problem with the system. I do not have problem with the voters. My problem is the (candidates') acceptance of defeat,” Vidal told Buac.
“In some parishes, the participants understandably have some doubts because of the technology and prevailing atmosphere of distrust caused by past experience of electoral fraud in our country's political history,” said Vidal.
Buac, however, told the archbishop that this was a problem of character which cannot be solved through automated elections. The director challenged the clergy to help them solve such problems by talking with their parishioners.
Buac has repeatedly reminded the clergy that Comelec does not have the sole responsibility for the attainment of “clean and honest” elections.
“We are all in this together. It is the voter himself who can guarantee a clean election. For example, illegal posters. Some would ask the Comelec why they have not removed the posters. I tell them, you are the one who saw it why didn't you remove it yourself. Why do you have to blame it on the Comelec and Philippine National Police (PNP). We were not the ones who violated it,” Buac said.
“It is not only the Cebu-Citizens Involvement and Maturation for People's Empowerment and Liberation (C-Cimpel) or the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) who should be responsible. Everyone should do their minor roles to achieve clean and honest election,” he added.
Buac said one of the small things a responsible voter can contribute towards successful elections is finding out his polling precinct and making a list of his choice of candidates before going out to cast his vote. He said this will speed up the election process.
Finding one’s polling precinct can be done online through comelec.gov.ph or, for those who do not have Internet connection, by going to an election officer to ask for their polling precinct.
Buac suggested that the voters visit their election officers two weeks before election day to know their polling stations. He said it will be an additional hassle to the election officials to give the precinct number to the voters on the election day itself.
Preparing a list of chosen candidates will also cut voting time.
Buac said that the average voting time is only three minutes based on the mock elections in February.
Upon receiving the ballot, the voters are encouraged to check if these are not tampered with or have marks that might cause the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) to reject these.
“See to it that the ballot is clear because that's the only time you can change your ballot and that is before you shade it. Make sure that it is clean,” Buac told the clergy.
Vidal said that instead of focusing on doubts and fears on the implementation of the automated election system, the challenge is to make sure that the votes of the people will be safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment