PPCRV extends manual count operations, calls for more volunteers

A Church-based poll watchdog group called for more volunteers Saturday night as it extended its manual count operations for the May 10 election results. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) made the call as more election returns (ERs) arrived at its command center in Pope Pius XII Center in Manila. The ERs are in the form of “grocery-list" printouts, which were produced by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines after voting hours ended last May 10. Each ER represents the counted votes for the precinct cluster serviced by a particular PCOS machine. PPCRV communications head Ana De Villa-Singson said they have sought the help of different religious congregations in the manual counting, according to an article Saturday night posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site. She said they have also sought reinforcement from the members schools of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP). De Villa-Singson said some congregations pledged to send at least 10 nuns each, and that there was one group who assured the PPCRV it will send 50 of its members. At around noon Saturday, at least 15 nuns from the Daughters of the Charity went to the command center to augment the lack of youth volunteers. On the other hand, Singson said the PPCRV has already extended its operation hours from midnight until 6 a.m. of the following day to accommodate more volunteers that are coming in. “We now have the laity and the religious groups," she said, adding there was a “higher accuracy" with their present batch of workers and that they work fast. Singson attributed the high percentage accuracy of the nuns to their being “spiritually guided." The PPCRV has already received 58 percent of the total expected ERs nationwide as of Saturday afternoon, but they have only encoded 23 percent so far. Earlier, the PPCRV sought to process at least 50 to 60 percent of the ERs, which would be enough to compare with the outcome of the Commission on Elections data transmitted directly from the voting machines. Singson said that when they were planning their operations, they had thought that their operations would only last until May 14. But she said the situation calls for them to extend their operation. “We had thought that the ERs would come on time, but the election time was extended and so they did not meet the delivery cutoff time of their partner cargo forwarders. The scheduled arrival of the ERs came a day late and they were also delivered late," she said.—JV, GMANews.TV