Philippine Posts in Europe attend COMELEC OAV Training
Philippine diplomatic and consular missions in various European cities attended a COMELEC Training held in Madrid, Spain on 11-13 March 2010 in order to prepare them for the upcoming May 2010 national elections. The Training was attended by four Ambassadors, a few Consuls General and various foreign service officers and staff from all posts in Europe and Turkey. COMELEC Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, Attorneys Jane Valeza and Norie Casingal conducted the modules.
Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso of the Philippine Embassy in Norway attended the Training together with Ambassador Ma. Zeneida Collinson ( Sweden), Ambassador Ariel Abadilla ( Ireland) and Ambassador Pedro Chan (Turkey) as well as charges d’affaires a.i. Monina C Rueca ( Bucharest) and Danilo Ibayan (Rome). The participants are either chairs or members of the Special Board of Canvassers (SBOC), Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI) and Special Ballot, Reception and Custody Group (SBRCG), in their respective posts. Vice Consul Lenna Eilleen D Sison and Ms. Lulu Cauton represented Oslo PE’s SBRCG and SBEI, respectively.
The modules consisted of general provisions on the law concerning Absentee Voting, Counting of Votes and Appreciation of Ballots, Preliminaries and Actual Canvassing Procedures. The mock elections they conducted gave the participants a taste of the actual task at hand and the possible problems they might encounter as well as the applicable solutions to these situations based on the electoral laws for absentee voting. The participants were also briefed about the automated elections that will be held in the Philippines, particularly on the security features of the machines to be used in counting the votes. A session on election offenses warned the participants against possible offenses they might commit wittingly or unwittingly. The COMELEC officials were quick to point out that they had complete trust in the integrity and honesty of the foreign service as their service in the past elections had never been tainted with doubt or charges of any wrongdoing.
At the end of the training, Ambassador Buensuceso gave a message to the participants. She said that, observing how enthusiastically and sincerely the participants joined in this exercise, she wondered what their motivation could be in the midst of depressing news of how the electoral process had been gang-raped in the past even by the very persons who were supposed to uphold it. And then she said that she was sure that at the back of every participant’s mind was the hope that somewhere out there, our seemingly senseless effort at swimming in a vast ocean would break shore, and hope would be greeting us with a warm welcome. She exhorted her fellow participants about God’s promises which the Bible quotes in the second Book of Chronicles, Chapter 7, verse 14 : “f my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and hear their prayers, and forgive their sins and heal their land.”
Voters in Norway, Denmark and Iceland have started receiving their ballots. Those who have not yet received theirs are requested to get in touch with the Embassy or visit its website. Seafarers who happen to be in Norway during the election period, 10 April to 10 May 2010, are also scheduled to vote in this post.
