PPCRV opens command center for Sept 14 Barmm Elections

MANILA, Philippines — The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) on Tuesday launched its command center for the historic Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) parliamentary elections on Sept. 14.

During a ceremony, the PPCRV and the Ama Education System signed a memorandum of agreement formalizing their partnership for the PPCRV-Ama command center in Makati City.

The PPCRV is the citizen arm of the Commission on Elections. It is a nongovernment group tasked with safeguarding the integrity of elections through an unofficial parallel count, or the manual auditing and checking of votes.

The poll watchdog flags any discrepancies or incidents of vote padding or vote shaving during the electoral process.

“It is very important because it is very historic. This is the very first parliamentary election in Barmm,” Ana De Villa-Singson, spokesperson and trustee of the PPCRV, told reporters after the ceremony.

READ: PPCRV needs 30,000 volunteers for Bangsamoro polls

The PPCRV said one of its command centers is stationed in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, and the group gathered around 3,000 volunteers in Barmm as of Sept. 8. It would allow the group to establish voters’ assistance desks in at least 1,100 polling centers.

“We have two command centers for the Barmm elections scheduled for September 12. One center is located in Datu Odin, Maguindanao, where the elections will take place on September 14. However, the unofficial parallel count will be consolidated here,” De Villa-Singson said.

Around 2.3 million voters are expected to elect 80 members of the first-ever Barmm Parliament on Monday, Sept. 14. /mcm