Task Force Eleksyon, a coalition of election watchdogs of which CODE-NGO is a member, commits to organizing voters’ education campaigns and election monitoring for the January 2019 Bangsamoro Organic Law plebiscite and May 2019 mid-term elections. 

Philippine democracy continues to face underlying tensions with the upcoming Midterm Elections set for May 2019. Surfacing political and electoral concerns pose threats against our freedom, citizen participation, peace, and security. Some of these issues include the lack of knowledge of majority of the Filipino voters about current and emerging issues, the failure of some pillars of government to uphold the sanctity of the elections, and the spread of fake news.

Task Force Eleksyon (TFE), a national network of electoral reform advocates, of which CODE-NGO is a member, reiterated its position to push for the conduct of the 2019 midterm elections as scheduled in May 2019.

Moreover, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) has been approved and signed by President Rodrigo Duterte to establish the new political identity of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in order to grant wider self-rule to Muslim provinces and cities. The plebiscite for the ratification of BOL is scheduled in January 2019.

However, Atty. Rona Ann Caritos, LENTE’s Executive Director points out that many residents in the region are still not fully aware about the law and how it will impact them. Hence, intensive information dissemination campaign is necessary to make sure that the people will cast a wise vote during the plebiscite.

Meanwhile, Taj Angeles from Simbahang Lingkod Bayan reminds everyone that it is important to ensure that the voting exercises in the BOL in January 2019 and midterm elections in May 2019 will protect democratic processes and citizens’ rights. As embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1987 Philippine Constitution, and other mandated framework, citizens have an important role to take in the political and electoral processes. Thus, there is a need to create space for CSOs and citizens to reflect, engage and take collective action to ensure clean elections.

In order to aid the increase in electoral transparency, NAMFREL’s Open Election Data Initiative aims to gather all data on how the previous automated elections was conducted to be able to answer the questions and/or allegations made against the accountability of COMELEC.

By the end of the learning session, participants agreed on the following steps to ensure effective electoral engagement:

• Conduct dialogues and candidates’ forum with various sectors in some key cities – NCR, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, and Zamboanga
• Conduct gatherings for the youth and CSOs to promote and educate people for the upcoming elections
• Engage the youth in electoral processes, particularly in maximizing the use of social media
• Conduct voters’ education campaign for CODE-NGO members and partners
• Maximize open election data for analysis with NAMFREL to publicize data about election.

The learning session dubbed as #PHVote2019: Citizen Engagement for Clean and Credible Elections was organized by CODE-NGO and CENVISNET, in partnership with TFE. Held during CODE-NGO’s Social Development Celebration and 27^th General Assembly on December 6-7, 2018, the session was attended by civic leaders and advocates, university students, and general publics who are active voters, election watchers, and political campaign participants.