THE PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL CONVENES ITS NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND REAFFIRMS ITS UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO UPHOLD DEMOCRACY AND PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) convened its National General Assembly from November 26 to 28, 2024, at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center. The event brought together 159 coordinators from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in preparation for the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE). This milestone gathering also celebrated 33 years of PPCRV’s unwavering service for the love of God and country, reaffirming its mission to uphold democracy, safeguard truth, and ensure CHAMP elections which are clean, honest, accurate, meaningful, and peaceful.
The assembly began with a recollection led by Fr. Emmanuel “Nono” Alfonso, SJ, who challenged participants to find hope by “retraining our focus, harnessing the power of action, and embracing communities.” His message encouraged coordinators to anchor their work on faith and hope, reminding everyone that “faith in God is the foundation of hope.”
The second day opened with a Mass celebrated by Msgr. Julius Heruela of Dumaguete, followed by inspiring messages from PPCRV’s founder and Chairperson Emeritus, Her Excellency Ambassador Henrietta T. de Villa who reaffirmed the organization’s unwavering commitment to truth and integrity through the years and Chairperson Evelyn Singson who called on volunteers and coordinators to champion and galvanize their vital role in ensuring Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful, and Peaceful (C.H.A.M.P.) elections most especially among the youth.
COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia introduced the new automated election system, underscoring the importance of citizen arms like PPCRV in protecting the vote. Attendees participated in a hands-on demonstration of the new Automated Counting Machines (ACMs), led by COMELEC’s Dir. Shugar Carbero-Llacuna, ensuring readiness for the upcoming elections. This allowed coordinators to have a first hand experience of the machine before the COMELEC roadshows that will bring the demonstration down to the city/municipality level.
Political analyst Christian Esguerra provided a national situationer, calling for increased civic engagement and accountability from both citizens and leaders. “We must invest in civics and pressure leaders to act justly for the people,” he urged.
The day concluded with regional meetings, where coordinators assessed challenges, explored opportunities, and appointed sub-regional coordinators to strengthen local efforts. Key topics were mobilization of volunteers and the election roadmap as discussed by National Coordinator Dr. Arwin Serrano.
The third day opened with Ana de Villa Singson, PPCRV Trustee, Spokesperson and Head for Voters Education rolling out TIBOK PINOY, a values formation program comprised of 5 books focusing on key values of a Model Filipino: MAKA -DIYOS, MATAPAT, MAGALANG, MATULUNGIN, MASIPAG, MAKABAYAN. A 6th book, MAPANURI aims to build the Model Netizen, mindful of etiquette in the internet, equipped to determine fact from fake news, discerning in assessing printed and audio-video materials. The 6-book series is accompanied by 11 podcasts all of which are fully downloadable for free from ppcrv.org. This pivot back to values aims to rekindle the moral fiber of our voters, most especially of the youth. In shaping voters who are Model Filipinos, the hope is that they will recognize and vote in other Model Filipinos too as our country’s leadership.
Rommel Bernardo, who co-heads IT with Dr. William Yu, discussed PPCRV’s key audit of the elections, the Unofficial Parallel Count to be held in the PPCRV Command Center. He highlighted key differences most especially the presence of the QR code in the election return, enabling quicker scanning of physical ERs sent from all points of the country and enabling PPCRV to audit and post results not only of national positions but for the very first time, also of local positions.
Coordinators from across the country responded by sharing their plans, hopes, challenges zeroing in on localizing plans, concepts and implementation. Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon, PPCRV’s spiritual counsel, then took to the podium to give an inspiring speech which reiterated the need for a lay organization such as PPCRV to safeguard key national activities like the elections. Said Archbishop Alarcon “ We do not lose hope. We engage. … there are many cynics and critics who do nothing… we do not simply sit by and watch. We are doing something concrete. We make our contribution.”
As with all key conferences of the PPCRV, we ended and began with the Eucharistic Celebration of the Mass, celebarated by Archbishop Alarcon and co-celebrated by 16 other priests among the congregation.
PPCRV’s battlecry: Boto Ko! Dangal Ko! Ipagtatanggol Ko! We are getting ready for Elections 2025…and are recommitting to our cause.
In closing, THE STATEMENT OF THE PPCRV NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, November 2024:
For distribution and circulation. Please contact Ana de Villa Singson, PPCRV Trustee, National Communications and Media Head, Spokesperson and Head for Voter’s Education, for any inquiries or clarifications regarding this issuance at 0917 5372066.
