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Poll volunteers of the Citizens Coalition for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Citizens-CARE) will end on Sunday their four-day planning workshop at the Oasis of Dialogue Training Center in Harmony Village in Sitio Pitogo, Barangay Sinunuc in Zamboanga City.
The activity includes the formulation of C-CARE’s five-year plan, consisting of programs that detail their preparation for the 2010 national and local elections and 2011 ARMM regional elections.
Organized in 2005, C-CARE is a coalition of 24 non-government organizations, sector and civil society groups, and peoples’ organizations advocating electoral reform in the ARMM provinces of Basilan, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-tawi and Sulu and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.
The group envisions to “help create a progressive and empowered Bangsamoro society through the implementation of genuine and sustainable electoral reforms.”
C-CARE chair Salic Ibrahim said that during the workshop, they would be evaluating “if we still would embrace the same vision, given the new automated system and our understanding of the current situation.”
In the August 2005 ARMM elections, the group became the accredited citizens’ arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
It was again given accreditation by the Comelec for the May 14, 2007 synchronized national and local elections; the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on October 29, 2007 and the August 2008 ARMM polls. (Malu Cadelina-Manar/MindaNews)