Open Letter from Namfrel/PPCRV

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, TO THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, TO THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, and TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE

We, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) with a combined service of 44 years have committed ourselves and hundreds of thousands of our volunteers towards…

• Voters’ education aimed at the formation of conscience of the Filipino electorate to vote responsibly and wisely — boto ko dangal ko ipagtatanggol ko
• Monitoring the conduct of elections so as to safeguard the sanctity of the ballot and the integrity of the electoral process — isang tao, isang boto
• Good governance and responsible citizenship particularly through the election of public officials with unsullied integrity, proven competence, non-negotiable independence — it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

PPCRV and NAMFREL believe that…

• Elections determine democracy.
• Elections measure “the rule of the people, by the people for the people”.
• Elections define the political stability of a government, and consequently, of the nation.
• Elections are a source of hope to impel our people to come together, to pray together, to act together, especially in times of crises as we did in 1986, that will prove to the world and to ourselves that Filipinos are proactive movers of freedom and democracy.

That is if elections were clean, honest, accurate, meaningful, peaceful – CHAMP. That is if elections were free and fair. That is if elections were liberated from graft and corruption.

At long last we have in our hands, as provided for in R.A. 9369, the means for CHAMP elections — the full automation of the election system (AES) for the 2010 National and Local Elections. The AES was actually tested in the 2008 Regional Elections in the Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the most election fraud-prone area in the Philippines, and the result was good due to the following…

• The AES diminished dramatically the space for cheating because of limited human intervention in the process of counting, canvassing, consolidation and transmission of votes
• The AES radically cut short the period for election results to be known by the public
• Violence related to elections was minimal, most importantly no election related killing took place
• Nuisance pre-proclamation election protests were contained, no election protest was filed

PPCRV and NAMFREL now ardently ask…

Dear President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, please use the vast power of your office to be the unwavering advocate of the full automation of our electoral system for the forthcoming 2010 National and Local Elections. We believe in your promise that a new transformed electoral system will be your legacy to the nation.

Dear Members of Congress, please use the force of your authentic actual power to see to it that compliance of R.A. 9369 of fully automating the 2010 National and Local Elections is implemented untrammeled by strange
conditions, and not be perceived as using the “power of the purse” as a tool to derail full implementation of the AES nationwide for the 2010 polls. We believe that the trust the voting public invested in you and your avowed pledge to serve the common good are still the primordial interest that govern your service, your words, your motives, your works.

Dear Officers and Staff of COMELEC, please use the actual force you hold as mandated by our Constitution to stay the course for the implementation of R.A. 9369 mandating full automation of the 2010 National and Local Elections, and continue with courageous commitment to restore credibility to Philippine elections, and consequently to the Commission itself, by cleaning the voters’ list and providing our electoral process with an untarnished Book of Registered Voters, prosecute with the full force of the law those who undermine our election laws from within and without. We believe in the new leadership of COMELEC and in the current determination of the entire Commission to give the Filipino people elections we can all be proud of.

Dear Filipino Citizens of the Republic of the Philippines, let us come together, discern together, pray together and act together, please act together in making the 2010 National and Local Elections the framework for re-defining our identity and re-invigorating our sense of nation.

PPCRV and NAMFREL continue our care of the elections with unabated enthusiasm and hope.

Please God, help us.

(Signed)
Ambassador Henrietta T. de Villa
National Chairperson
PPCRV and NAMFREL

01 March 2009
First Sunday of Lent