By: Lenbi Laborte, CENVISNET
The Central Visayas Network of NGOs (CENVISNET), a coalition of civil society organization (CSO) networks in Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental (Region VII), conducted its first round of post-election focused group discussions entitled “Pagmuni-muni” with CSOs, the private sector, academe, and media last June 2022.
Mr. Sandino Soliman, Program Officer for Advocacy of CODE-NGO, graced the series by providing an overview of the PARTICIPATE project and coalition, highlighting the role of CSOs in electoral process and reform through voters’ education and information drive, constituent mobilization and agenda building, policy lobbying and advocacy, and monitoring of the election process, including post-election activities.
The Executive Director of CENVISNET, Mr. Lenbi R. Laborte, facilitated the discussion. Majority of the recommendations were on how CSOs can help improve the electoral process in the country:
- Implement a hybrid election system where manual counting happens in the precincts, with the fourth copy of election returns to be independently counted by CSOs, and transmission of results is done electronically
- Campaign for the passage of the Anti-Political Dynasty Act
- Increase public awareness of the party-list system and foreground its goal to “enable Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties and who lack well-defined political constituencies” to participate in the legislative branch of government
- Organize a non-partisan coalition of CSOs for electoral reforms
- Increase voters’ education thru information drive
- Co-evaluate credibility of the PCOS machines
Some CSOs also expressed support to No-Postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Elections in December 2022.
The next round of focused group discussion will focus on formulating the Regional Poverty Reduction and Development Agenda of the CSOs for the next 5 years.
The post-election discussion is part of the Project PARTICIPATE, a nationwide non-partisan and non-profit movement dedicated to engage and strengthen political participation in the Philippines. This is a consortium project of Ateneo School of Government (ASOG), National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), De La Salle University Jesse M. Robredo Institute of Governance, the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), and CODE-NGO that aims to increase and enhance non-partisan political participation by the citizenry and CSOs in the government-administered national and local electoral processes. CENVISNET is a co-implementer of PARTICIPATE project activities in Region VII.
Participants in Cebu last June 2, 2022 at the Big Hotel, Mandaue City: Kaabag sa Sugbo Foundation, Inc. (the provincial network of NGOs for Cebu); Dilaab Foundation; Soil and Water Conservation Foundation (SWCF); Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI); Primary Structures Educational Foundation, Inc.-School of Knowledge for Industrial Labor, Leadership, and Services (PSEFI-SKILLS); University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF); Fellowship for Organizing Endeavors, Inc. (FORGE); Pagtambayayong Foundation, Inc.; Danao City Women’s Federation, Inc. (DCWFI); National Confederation of Transportworkers Union-International Transport Federation (NCTU-ITF) Cebu; One Sugboanon Youth (OSY); Juanito I. King Foundation, Inc. (JIKFI); and Sectoral Transparency Alliance on Natural Resource Governance (STANCe).
Participants in Bohol last June 7, 2022 at the Panda Tea Garden Cafe, Tagbilaran City: BANGON (the provincial network of NGOs in Bohol); Bohol Integrated Development Foundation, Inc. (BIDEF); Participatory Research, Organizing of Communities and Education towards Struggle for Self-Reliance (PROCESS) Bohol; Soil and Water Conservation Foundation (SWCF); World Vision, Inc. (WVI); University of Bohol Community Development Foundation Inc. (UBCDFI); Community Awareness and Services for Ecological Concerns (CASEC); and First Consolidated Bank Foundation, Inc. (FCBFI).
Participants In Negros Oriental last June 14, 2022: NEGORNET (provincial network of NGOs in Negros Oriental); Panaghugpong sa mga Gagmay nga Bayanihang Grupo sa Negros Oriental, Inc. (PAGBAG-O); St. Catherine Family Helper Project, Inc. (SCFHPI); and Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Negros Oriental.
The focused group discussion groups were assisted by the IT interns of CENVISNET, as well as volunteers from the Facilitators’ Circle (FC), Cebu Normal University-Supreme Student Government (CNU-SSG), Project Bohol and Mental Health Awareness (PB-MHA).