Namfrel monitors, alerts authorities to election-day problems

MANILA, Philippines — Elections this year, as in past years, are being monitored by National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections volunteers working to help ensure clean elections.

Namfrel Election Observer Ma. Corazon Akol said that the group's main role is to call the attention of the Commission on Elections and Philippine National Police to possible irregularities and anomalies during election period.

"Kunwari magulo, tatawagan namin ang Comelec, sasabihin namin: 'Bakit magulo dito? Kasi yung makina ninyo di gumagana.' Hindi kami ang umaaksyon, ang ina-aksyon namin is we go to the corresponding authority kasi kung isa-isa lang iyan, baka hindi pakinggan," she said.

"Kapag ang Namfrel nagpunta doon -- kasi meron kaming officer with Comelec and we can go straight to the commissioner -- [we can say]'boss, bakit ito hindi gumagana?' Dito, may barilan, so sa PNP namin... Comelec and PNP pag may gulo, may violence we report it, para maaksyunan," Akol said.

Namfrel have put up command centers in different regions and has 50,000 volunteers registered in its database.

"We are actually doing mobile poll watching, we have chapter heads in most of the places where there are voting centers, so I think we only lack probably two or three voting centers where there are no Namfrel volunteers," she said.

It also has a team of volunteers monitoring social media accounts -- it uses the hashtag #NAMFRELWatch2016 -- for reports of irregularities, anomalies and problems on election day.

Reports are sent to volunteers in the field for validation.

In a briefing on Monday, Namfrel said that it has received reports of voters not finding their names on voters' lists and of vote counting machine breakdowns, problems also faced in past elections. - Vanessa Bernardo, intern