ARMM poll volunteers gear up for 2010 elections

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines – Poll volunteers of the Citizens Coalition for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Citizens-CARE) will lay down formula and strategies to make poll monitoring in 2010 more reliable and extensive. The 4-day strategic planning workshop ends on Sunday at the Oasis of Dialogue Training Center in Harmony Village at Sitio Pitogo, Barangay Sinunuc in Zamboanga City. The activity includes the formulation of Citizens-CARE five-year plan, which consists of programs that detail their preparation for 2010 national and local elections and 2011 ARMM regional elections. One particular objective the group aims to achieve after the four-day workshop is for volunteers to differentiate the previous automation and the incoming election process to be implemented next year. “By doing that, we would be able to strategize and improve our intervention during the 2010 elections," said Citizens-CARE chair Salic Ibrahim. The group, since it was conceived in 2005, carries a vision, that is, to help create a progressive and empowered Bangsamoro society through the implementation of genuine and sustainable electoral reforms. “During the four-day workshop, we will try to evaluate if we still would embrace the same vision, given the new automated system and our understanding of the current situation," Salic stressed. The Citizens-CARE, organized in 2005, is a coalition of 24 non-government organizations, sector and civil society groups, and peoples’ organizations who are electoral reform advocates in six provinces in ARMM. In August 2005 ARMM elections, the group became the accredited citizens’ arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). It was again given accreditation by the Comelec in May 14, 2007 synchronized national and local elections; in October 29, 2007 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections; and in August 2008 ARMM polls. - Malu Cadeliňa Manar, GMANews.TV?