Social action ministry pursues election advocacy

By Tere Emeralda Medina

On March 5, 2022, the Caritas-Caceres (Naga), Inc., the Social Action Ministry of the Archdiocese of Caceres completed the virtual series of trainings conducted by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) for Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful and Peaceful (CHAMP) elections.

The Voter’s Education Phase 3: Training the Volunteers, was attended by 21 Caritas Caceres staff and volunteers who gathered at the office of the social action at CCDC Bldg, Cadlan, Pili. It was also extended to 15 vicariates of the Archdiocese located geographically in the areas of Partido, Rinconada, Bay district and Central district including Naga City and nearby vicariates. Other volunteers from different parishes in Luzon also joined via Zoom. The topics discussed for the Phase 3 include: Accountable Materials Verifiable Audit Trail (AMVATT), Volunteers Assistance Desk, Poll Watching, Parallel Unofficial count.

PPCRV volunteers in the Archdiocese of Caceres listen to an online training on Voter’s Education Phase 3 by PPCRV National Office. Other participants from different parishes from Luzon also joined via Zoom. /MB (Photo credit: Caritas Caceres Naga)

The speakers from PPCRV National Office via Zoom were Dr. Arwin Serrano on AMVATT, Poll Watching and Parallel Counting; on PPCRV Technology Kick-off, William Emmanuel Yu, Ph.D., Co-IT Director PPCRV and Rommel Bernardo, Co-IT Director PPCRV.

Upcoming training for volunteers include the BantayBayan combined teams from CDL (Caritas Diocese of Libmanan), AdNU & CC (Caritas-Caceres) for the automated PPCRV Parallel Count of Election Returns from Caceres & Libmanan.

Last July 15, 2021 Episcopal Commission on Social Action-Justice and Peace (ECSA-JP) and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The MOA aims at strengthening coordination and collaboration for meaningful electoral engagements, especially in the areas of Voters’ Registration, Voters’ Education, Poll Watching and Post-Election Accountability Programs.

The active involvement and leadership of the Social Action Center can help the Diocese mobilize its resources and make the citizens feel that election is everyone’s business. Presently, the Archdiocese has some 3,500 parish PPCRV volunteers and Caritas Caceres expects this number to increase to about 5,000 before the May 9 elections.

Rev. Fr. Marcel Emmanuel DP. Real heads the PPCRV Bicol cluster and the Diocesan PPCRV.