PPCRV seeks voters' education in college curriculum

MANILA, Philippines - With the 2010 election just a year away, Church-backed poll watchdog group is now working to include voters' education in the college curriculum. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said it will take the first step with Catholic colleges and universities for the proposed education program. "We are just in the process of creating a module for voters' education," PPCRV chairwoman Henrietta de Villa said in an article on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website. She said an effort is also underway to have their advocacy also imparted to college students in public schools. De Villa said the group is optimistic the voters' education campaign will soon be integrated in the National Service Training Program (NSTP). The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) supported the idea, saying the advocacy deals much with the social transformation concern. "I won't have any problem with that. We may have to include that as part of our implementing guidelines because NSTP is really social exposure, social transformation concern, so if we include that we need to have a template to prepare for that," CEAP head Fr. Gerry Santos said. But he admitted they need a template to prepare for that. On Monday, the PPCRV and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) forged a partnership with CEAP to prepare for the 2010 polls. The partnership aims to ensure a clean, honest, accurate, meaningful and peaceful conduct of the elections in May 2010. Representing Namfrel was vice chairman Jose Cuisia Jr., while representing PPCRV was De Villa. "The participation of Catholic schools, its faculty and students, in ensuring a meaningful 2010 elections is an important commitment that CEAP is making. Not only do we want to serve as watchdogs, but equally important, we are duty-bound as citizens and as Christians to play an active role in nation-building, encourage our young to vote, educate our fellow voters and protect our votes," said Santos. "CEAP is called to promote a relevant, yet prophetic education. It must seek to promote social transformation in all its programs and activities. While relevance is the name of the game these days for survival, CEAP should be able to nurture a social conscience that is guided by the Social Teachings of the Church," he added. - GMANews.TV