NAMFREL urges Filipinos to safeguard Eleksyon 2022 process

The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) on Monday urged Filipinos to safeguard Eleksyon 2022 in all its phases: from the pre-election period, to election day, to the post-election period.

NAMFREL believed that all voters could be "citizen election observers or Bantay ng Bayan" to ensure that their votes were counted correctly and that the elections were held in a way that was fair to all stakeholders.

NAMFREL said that citizen election observers need not be a member of any election monitoring organization like NAMFREL, political parties, or any election management body.

“Any Filipino can be a citizen election observer, whether they are campaigning for or against a candidate, or are not campaigning, or are undecided,” it added.

In a video released Monday, NAMFREL enumerated the different violations that citizens can easily look out for during the different phases of the electoral process.

It also outlined how and to whom citizens can report or seek assistance to officially report these violations. These included the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), election monitoring organizations like NAMFREL, authorities like the Philippine National Police, political parties, and especially the media.

“NAMFREL encourages the distribution or sharing of this video to reach as many people as possible,” the group said.

“In the coming weeks prior to Election Day, NAMFREL will be issuing more guidelines on how ordinary citizens may participate in helping ensure that the 2022 elections will be transparent, free, and fair,” it added. — DVM, GMA News