By Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA
DUMAGUETE CITY – The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in the Diocese of Dumaguete has set its trainors’ training for volunteers in the May 13 elections next month.
Msgr. Julius Perpetuo S. Heruela, convenor of the Diocesan Electoral Board of the Diocese of Dumaguete, who also heads the PPCRV here, disclosed Monday afternoon that the training include updates on election matters and other concerns, voters’ education in the parishes, and the proper use of social media, among others.
“We will echo what was shared to us during the recent PPCRV training for educators in Manila,” he said.
The monsignor was referring to the national PPCRV training, where the new PPCRV national chairperson, Myla Villanueva — a leading figure in the digital technology industry — was among the resource persons.
During the training, Heruela said the different dioceses gave updates on their respective activities for the May mid-term polls being members of the PPCRV, the Catholic Church-backed citizens’ election watchdog.
On voters’ education, the PPCRV’s “One Good Vote” campaign for citizens to vote wisely and reject vote-buying was also reviewed for cascading at the local levels, he added.
Emphasis was also given on how to invite people to sign up as PPCRV volunteers during the election, considering that the offer of payment by political parties and political candidates is more attractive, Heruela pointed out.
He said the trainors’ training here is scheduled on April 13, shortly before Holy Week, as parish coordinators in the diocese have requested to give them time for the different graduation exercises taking place in early April.
“But we are already trying to reach out to others to send them copies of the voters’ education training materials,” he said.
The priest is hopeful that many volunteers will sign up this time, just as in the previous election where around 5,000 volunteers had served in the PPCRV and the Diocesan Electoral Board.
One important highlight of the training would be on incident reporting, where volunteers are asked to document, take photos and report suspected vote-buying activities before, during, and after the May 13 polls.
