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By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Reporter
THE National Citizen’s Movement
for Free Elections (Namfrel) admitted on Wednesday that it is still
behind as far as preparation for its quick count is concerned, but
quickly doused speculations by stating that they would be finished
before May 14.
Damaso Magbual, Namfrel chairman,
told reporters at the weekly Fernandina Forum in Greenhills, San
Juan, that they are experiencing a bit of a delay especially those
in the far-flung areas of the country.
“We are still in the process of
reactivating some chapters. So far, more than 70 percent have been
reactivated . . . we are a little bit delayed,” Magbual said.
He added that Namfrel also needs
to resolve several “organizational” problems to solve,
particularly those in remote areas like the mountain provinces and
in Mindanao.
But overall, Magbual said the
preparations for Namfrel’s quick count are going smoothly.
He also added that they would
again hold operations for their national headquarters in De La Salle
University-Greenhills and would start setting up the area next week.
The organization is also aiming
to have the municipal results be transmitted to the national
headquarters via e-mail, Magbual said.
In the 2004 national election,
Namfrel attempted to have the results transmitted via text messaging
service. But due to the large volume of data, the system was
overwhelmed, Magbual said.
The electronic transmission of
results should reduce the chances of tampering, Namfrel said.
“We will not use text messaging
anymore. We will use e-mail,” Magbual said.
“We are doing this to preserve
the integrity of the results. The more human intervention there is,
the greater chances of fraud,” Magbual explained. It is also
faster, he added.
Namfrel is also consolidating its
volunteers to observe and monitor the counting of the ballots even
from the precinct level.
Magbual said they need 300,000
volunteers for the May local election. He added that they are close
to getting that figure.
Magbual said Namfrel’s ranks
would be augmented by volunteers from various civic society groups
like church-based organizations, the Makati Business Club, Ateneo de
Manila University and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
He noted that Namfrel also has an
arrangement with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting
(PPCRV) to boost their numbers.
PPCRV would let Namfrel borrow
volunteers of the latter to monitor the elections in places where
Namfrel has few volunteers, Magbual explained.
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