Deterring Automated Fraud
CenPEG kicks off AES voters’ education nationwide
Six months away from the May 10, 2010 elections a voters’ education conducted by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) has been underway nationwide. The voters’ education, which includes a briefing on the automated election system (AES), voters’ rights, and poll watch guidelines, is conducted by CenPEG’s Fellows, IT consultants, and other resource persons.
The voters’ education seminars and trainings are held by CenPEG and sometimes in cooperation with other NGOs, church-based institutions, and other groups and political parties in the provinces.
The education activities were begun as early as May this year but CenPEG expects the program to peak beginning in the last quarter of 2009. In October and early November alone, the seminars and trainings – often lasting for two days - were held in Metro Manila, Cagayan Valley, Bicol, and various parts of Mindanao. Participants have included leaders and members of the youth sector, farmers, labor, women, teachers, religious organizations, business groups, and political parties.
Most of the participants will be organized into a nationwide network of poll watch groups in preparation for the May 10, 2010 automated national and local elections.
The modules for the voters’ education were developed based on CenPEG’s ongoing studies on the poll automation. The aim is to help build critical public awareness on the complexities and vulnerabilities of the automated election, how to prevent electronic fraud, voters’ rights in the poll automation, various contingency plans in case of automated cheating or failure of elections, and other skills.
CenPEG conducts these briefings in line with its advocacy of empowering the people to make use of their democratic right by voting proactively, through education and workshops. They also promote CenPEG’s advocacy of pushing the Comelec to provide the necessary safeguards on the automation of the election process, ensuring that wholesale fraud will not take effect in this new system. Many of CenPEG’s Fellows, IT consultants, and other resource persons come from various universities like the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and Rutgers University (U.S.) with extensive practice in NGO volunteerism and IT competence.
(CenPEG 11/13/09) |
