The Diocesan Electoral Board (DEB) of the Diocese of Dumaguete, through the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), sent volunteers to act as observers during the mock elections in Santander, Cebu on Saturday.
DEB convenor and PPCRV Negros Oriental chair Msgr. Julius Perpetuo Heruela said two teams, headed by Engr. Fred Magallano, DEB director, fielded to the two voting sites in Santander, Cebu.
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) had announced earlier it will be conducting simulated mock polls in 20 different locations across the country on Saturday, Feb. 13, to improve or correct polling and canvassing procedures as well as ensure a smooth flow on election day.
The simulation will also be a field test for the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) to be used in the national and local synchronized elections on May 9.
The COMELEC had said the mock elections will determine, among other things, the accuracy, security, integrity, capability and other technical concerns of the VCMs and transmission devices and allocate enough time to correct errors, if any.
One of the concerns raised by many is the so-called glitch in the source code, with the COMELEC had said was probably due to an “overly sensitive self-diagnosing mechanism”.
The closest barangays to Negros Oriental where the simulated elections are to be conducted are in Central, Poblacion Santander and Botongan, about 13 kilometers interior from the proper of Santander, said Engr. Magallano.
The teams from Negros Oriental and Siquijor comprise PPCRV volunteers who had recently completed training at the national capital on voters’ education and election monitoring, specifically on the Automated Election System (AES) and the VCMs.
A group of Information Technology (IT) students from Foundation University in Dumaguete City, and a number of faculty from the same university, will be among those deployed to Santander, Msgr. Heruela said.
According to the priest, the volunteers are tasked to make keen observations and make recommendations to the COMELEC.
He recalled that in 2013, Dumaguete City was one of the areas where the mock elections were held and one of the technical concerns that the DEB and PPCRV had noted was the problem of locating a transmission signal from the voting center.
Meanwhile, the DEB and PPCRV held its first AES training Friday afternoon at Foundation University, Heruela said.
The trainors’ training aims to encourage more student volunteers to participate in further trainings not just in the different schools but to reach out to the barangay level, he added. (PNA)
