Guest spearkers: Atty. Alexander Lacson of the Liberal Party, Former Justice Secretary Silvestre L. Bello of Lakas Kampi CMD, and former Senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad, an Independent Candidate.

Here’s their report:

They came.  One professing to be a faithful child of God and a true Filipino.  The other promising to strengthen the promotion of  justice as the same should be dispensed without fear or favor.  And the third one, enlightening his audience on the true state of politics in the country.  Respectively,  they were Atty. Alexander Lacson, Former Justice Secretary Silvestre L. Bello and erstwhile senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad, our guest speakers in the 9^th RVOTE FORUM held at Cecille’s Restaurant Ballroom Pavilion last 13^th of this instant, and was ably hosted by the Rotary Club of Las Piñas-Camino Real.  The three are all candidates for senator.  Atty. Lacson of the Liberal Party, Justice Secretary Bello with Lakas Kampi CMD and former Senator Tatad running as an Independent candidate.

In line with the RI D3830 Advocacy For Voter Education thrust at encouraging political awareness among members and their immediate sphere of  influence, particularly in matters relating to  the Rotary’s various avenues of service, while strictly maintaining non-partisanship and non-alignment rule towards political groups, the above-named candidates were invited to speak in the forum encouraging them to dwell on topics along Rotary concerns on water, health, poverty, environment, youth, good governance and ethics as part of their platform of governance.

The forum was well attended by members of various Rotary Clubs within the cluster of Las Piñas.  Almost 90 percent of the members of RCLP Camino Real attended with their spouses coming along.  The meeting started at 6 o’clock in the evening .In the forefront of the Forum was RVOTE District Chair PP Nenette Aseniero and competently assisted by DDS/PP Fed Sapitan and AG Nestor del Rosario.  RVOTE District Chair Nenette Aseniero keynoted the Forum.  DDS/PP Fed Sapitan emceed and made noteworthy introduction of the three speakers.  Rotarian Boy Tibayan acted as the moderator for the question and answer portion of the Forum.

As the Forum coincided with the regular meeting of RCLP Camino Real, the same was held in somewhat abbreviated fashion.  Immediately after the announcements, and the adjournment momentarily held in abeyance, DDS/PP Fed Sapitan proceeded with the introduction of the guests speakers, and forthwith, the audience were treated to a succession of speeches not quite  unlike the traditional dialogue being heard in “miting de avance” minus the enthusiastic applause and heckling.  In fairness to the candidates, due mainly to the assembly’s stature, their speeches were intelligently delivered and lucidly explained.  It was very apparent that our chosen speakers not only exuded confidence, but are quite competent, experienced and highly skilled in their vocation.  Most notably, the three were able to unquestionably demonstrate their individual candor and resolve in pursuing their candidacy.

In the question and answer portion of the Forum, where the same questions are to be answered by each of the candidate in the 3-minute allotted time, questions were strictly limited to Rotary concerns topic, i.e., water, health, poverty, environment, youth, good governance and ethics.    Each question was gamely answered by all of the candidates.  In all, the Forum proved to be a very enlightening and a successful one.  The food was sumptuous and the ladies were treated to photo ops with the candidates, who are only too willing. Not to be out done, the menfolk followed suit.

Almost forgotten in the din of congratulations and side campaigning, somebody reminded SVP Art De Guzman to adjourn the Forum/meeting at about 10:00 p.m.

The 11th RVOTE Forum was hosted by RC’s Muntinlupa, Muntinlupa Filinvest, Muntinlupa North, Muntinlupa South, Alabang Lampara, Alabang North and Las Pinas West.

Guest speakers were Ms. Susan Ople, Mr. Rolly Gonzalo, and Mr. Rizalito David.

Here’s their report:

11th RVOTE Forum
By SVP Rene Aclan, RC Muntinlupa Central

RC Muntinlupa Central hosted the 11th RVOTE Forum, at the Max’s Restaurant, Dr. A. Santos Ave., Paranaque City on February 4, 2010. The event was chaired by the energetic PP Nenette Aseniero and co-hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Muntinlupa, Muntinlupa Filinvest, Muntinlupa North, Muntinlupa South, Alabang Lampara, Alabang North and Las Pinas West. PP Berting Castillo emceed the first part of the modified club weekly meeting program and Rtn. Victor JR Lizardo, the moderator for the second segment.

Three guest candidates graced the occasion. One is a senatorial candidate, Ms. Susan Ople, a former Undersecretary of Labor who introduced her program to benefit the Overseas Foreign Workers. The other two guest candidates are party list congressional nominee candidates: Mr.. Rolly Gonzalo of “Alyansa ng Media at Showbiz” discussed his program for media and showbiz sector; and Rizalito David, a socio political analyst of “Ang Kapatiran Party” who described his party’s character as closed to the ideals of the Rotary’s four way test.

They all expressed their panoramic views in addressing the worsening water and environmental concerns in answer to PP Tess Filoteo’s query. In response to SVP Danny Abinoja question, they individually presented their proposed “out of the box” solutions to the deteriorating governance and ethical issues. Mr. David proposed to bring God in the center of governance to eradicate amorality. Mr. Gonzalo suggested transformation coming from within the natural goodness of each Filipino. Ms. Ople wants to create a vision of positive changes anchoring on the long history of the inherent strength, skills and abilities the Filipinos have demonstrated to the world.

It was indeed a night of education, wisdom and enlightenment, congratulations and more power to the RVOTE organizers.

The RVote project, advocating voter education of RI District 3830 conceptualized by PP Pepito Bengzon of RCMakati and spearheaded by  PP Nenette Aseniero  of RCM Bel -Air gave our club the distinct and honoured privilege of hosting the 5^th RVOTE FORUM.  PP Nenette organized the event and invited guests  Rep. Bongbong Marcos and Atty.  Adel Tamano both running for Senator in the upcoming May election.

With Rep Bongbong’s previous position as Governor and current Congressman of Ilocos Norte, he was able to share with the group his various accomplishments as well as plans and programs. The main focus of his presentation was on Water and Environment,  Health and Hunger,  Education and Youth, all aligned with RI District 3830, 2009-2010 Thrusts.  One interesting experience he mentioned was when he got wind of a U.S. Hospital closing down and successfully negotiated the donation of its equipment to the Ilocos Provincial Hospital. With pride he claimed that through his efforts a once ill-equipped provincial hospital was transformed into a first class Health Care Facility. With this in mind, I sincerely believe we should explore the possibility of creating a Task Force solely dedicated in identifying various facilities we can exploit for the purpose of obtaining donations.

The next speaker, Atty. Adel Tamano, from Pamantasan ng  Lungsod ng Manila introduced himself as the first Filipino Muslim educated in  the prestigious Harvard University. As President of the PLM he emphasized the various undertakings he made to improve the educational facilities that led to the raised levels of performance of students during his term. He was adamant in saying that it is through education we will be freed from poverty and open the gates of progress.

The RVOTE FORUM allowed both speakers 10 minutes each to present their various accomplishments, projects and platforms.  However, both speakers engaged the audience intensely that both of them exceeded the 10 minute allowance.  Rep Bongbong in particular went over 35 minutes asking for pardon as he feels that giving any politician only 10 minutes of talk time is punishment.

The culmination of the program was an open forum allowing the Rotarians to further interact and question the speakers.

The venue, Basilio’s Restaurant accommodated around 38 people during the occasion which provided a very intimate setting that allowed a close encounter for both speakers and guests.

Overall , the 5^th RVOTE FORUM was a success due mainly to the execution of a well planned event by PP Nenette Aseniero  and PE  Robbie Bonoan’s efforts in extending invitations to the other clubs that attended.  And equally important is the enthusiastic and unfailing support of the members of Rotary Club of Makati Bel-Air namely CP Sonie Zamora, PP Chochit and Dir. Arlene Tobias, PP Jack Teotico , PP Raffy Aquino, PP Santi Dapul, PP Rico & PP Rachel Ocampo, PP Harry Dacumos, PP Yolly Abueg,  Rtn. Ada Bonoan, Treas. Paul Bugayong, Rtn. Amie Sanchez, Rtn. Gene Monteverde, Rtn. Tania Lumanlan, Dir. Dytas Marquez who was present that evening.

The forum was hosted by RC Makati Bel Air last November 17, 2009 at Basilio’s Restaurant in Fort Bonifacio.

The Rotary Club of Paranaque East hosted the 6th RVote Forum held at the Corregidor Room of the Century Park Hotel in Manila on November 23, 2009. Organized by the District through the able leadership of Nenette Aseniero, District Chair Public Image – Voter Education, the guests were senatorial bets Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo and radio/television broadcaster Rey Langit. VP Jun Benzon briefly introduced the guests while PP Bobot Ramos masterfully moderated the proceedings which lasted almost three hours and covered in full by television station Global News Network.

The guests were given about 20 minutes each to talk about anything before they were subjected to the grilling of the Rotarians. Ka Satur was the night’s favorite considering his colorful background being a former official of the CPP-NPA. It is because of this that the Rotarians applied hammer and sickle to probe Ka Satur who gamely answered all the questions some of which could have been personal to him as he admitted at one point being carried by his emotion. Nevertheless, Ka Satur survived the onslaught and cleared the air for the Rotarians to give him a positive evaluation. On the other hand, popular radio host Rey Langit consumed 95 % of his time talking about his awards and accomplishments, almost forgetting about his plans and advocacy if ever he gets elected. This RVote episode proved that Rotarians are sniffy animals and candidates should be forewarned.

REPORT FROM RC Palawan on the YRVOTE Forum

The forum started 1:50 pm at HAIM Chicken Inato the home and heart of Pres. Eric Yayen’s business, host and SVP of RC Puerto Princesa. With 94 participants from 4 different schools, Patrick Jay L. Nangkil, President of the RAC of Puerto Princesa welcomed and thanked the participants for coming in such a short notice, most of them informed of the forum a day before the event. He told everybody that they are also lucky to have the guest speakers in such a short notice. With Mam Vicky only informed a night before the event and Prof. Eva missing her original flight, with two of them just came that same morning at 10:15 am. Pres. Patrick also invited volunteers for the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. Prof. Eva Callueng started the forum by giving a bubbly and energetic explanation of Democracy and Voter’s right. Participants laugh from time to time because of her current and comedic examples of her topic. Right after the Module 1 discussion, the participants ate their snack and proceeded with concrete details of RVOTE and how it was established given by Senior Assistant Governor and Chair of Public Image PP Pepito Bengzon..

COMELEC PRO Maria Victoria Dulcero then made clear of the automated election process and all its details right after the introduction of RVOTE. Afterwards, the DEMO and mock voting followed with three (3) volunteers coming from the participants. The forum ended with Q&A at 6:12 pm, but many still eager to ask questions from the speaker on automated election.

Forty volunteered for PPCRV, with the seminar tentatively scheduled on January.

Rotary International (RI) District 3830 Governor Isidro Garcia and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) National Chairperson Tita de Villa formalized their commitment to work together on voter education and election monitoring by signing a memorandum of agreement at the Dusit Thani Hotel last Friday, November 27, 2009.

The PPCRV has been accredited by the COMELEC as its citizen arm and poll-watchdog in the May 2010 computerized election. It cited PPCRV’s reliability and non-partisanship as basis for this accreditation.

As an accredited poll watchdog, PPCRV is mandated to conduct poll watching activities and give assistance to voters. Its duties also include conducting massive voters’ education programs in every municipality, city or province in the country. T

he accreditation entitles the PPCRV to a soft copy of the computerized voter’s list (CVLs) as well as the 4th copy of the election returns.

“With this joint undertaking, RVOTE, the RI District 3830′s advocacy for voter education goes into the second phase of its program to election monitoring,” said RVOTE Chairman Nenette Aseniero.

RVOTE started in September this year with two simultaneous projects, the RVOTE Forum and the YRVOTE, to educate, inform and empower Rotarians, Rotaractors and community leaders. RVOTE continues with its advocacy through direct collaboration with the PPCRV in poll watching, as volunteers for the voters’ assistance desk, as special witnesses of truth (SWOT) poll watcher and as members of the accountable material verifiable audit trail team (AMVATT).

Joining Governor Sid Garcia were District 3860 Governor Antonio Veneracion, District 3850 Governor Edgar Sy and District 3790 Governor Rolando Villanueva who signed the MOA yesterday. District 3780 Governor Dulce Coyukiat and District 3810 Governor C. Beltran professed to join, too. They will start the RVOTE program in their respective districts.

The event was aired on Channel 7 evening news, GNN and reported by Philippine Star and the Business Mirror.

Election 2010 is just a few months away.  Candidates are already all over the media campaigning.  Aside from the personalities running in the election, one important thing that people need to know is the process of automated election.  This is the first time that the Philippines will implement automated election in the National level.  As part of the Rotary Voter’s Education, SAG Peps Bengzon of Public Image and Nenette Aseniero, Chair of Rvote, launched the RVote Forum to inform Rotarians about the coming the election from qualifications and platforms of candidates to the actual operation of the PCOS machine.

Rotary Club of Makati San Lorenzo with RC Makati Jose P. Rizal and RC Makati Rockwell hosted the 4^th Rvote Forum.  The guest speakers are Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larazzabal and Miguel Avila of Smartmatic.  The purpose of the Forum is to inform Rotarians about Automated Election, what are its advantages, the system that they are using and most importantly how to fill up the form and use the PCOS machine for counting the votes.

Commissioner Gregorio Larazzabal discussed how the Automated Election came about. There have been apprehensions from civil society and other private sector about the automated Election.  As per Rotarian Mano Alcuaz, “unfortunately the automated election system does not seem to be designed for honest and credible elections. The only shared objective that automated elections may bring us is very fast proclamation.”  Commissioner Larrazabal explained that all steps are taken to make sure that the automated system has all the safety nets to protect the credibility of the ballots.  If the system fails, Comelec can still revert back to manual counting.

The highlight of the Rvote Forum was the demo done by Miguel Avila of Smartmatic on how to use the PCOS machine.  It is the first time for most of the attendees to see the said PCOS machine and everybody wanted to try to use it.  Even the waiters at Manila Polo Club tried casting their ballots and observing how it is being counted.

Guests were COMELEC Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal and Smartmatic Representative Gaye Cabalo.

By:  Past President Patti S. King, Club Public Image Person; District 3830 Senior Assistant Governor for Recognition and Appreciatiom

In the beginning we did not know much about Mr Joey de Venecia and much less about Ms Liza Maza, two aspiring senators, and just wanted to get as many guests as possible to listen to them, within the constraints of the meeting room in Metro Club. I just wanted to get my role as moderator over with.  Little did I know that before the night was over, I would be declaring my support for one of the speakers.   But that is another story.

God smiled down on the Rotary Club of Makati Jose P. Rizal because aside from the two speakers arranged by RVote Chairman Past President Nenette Aseniero, we had Ms Aseniero herself plus other District Officers including Senior Assistant Governor for Public Image Pepito Bengzon, Assistant Governor Doris Ensomo, and the District Officers within the club itself:  District Secretary Lita Wells, Senior Assistant Governor for Literacy and Education Beth Rabuy, and yours truly.  Not to mention the Smiling Visionary Presidents in attendance:  our very own Emma Rivera; Fern Pena of Makati West; Glenda Leyco of Taguig West; Imelda Sietereales of Muntinlupa Filinvest; and Danny Abinoja of Alabang Lampara, who brought Club Secretary Sim Dayrit.  Members of the club who attended were Fe Lainez, Yolly Hilario, Vivien Banzuelo, Eliza Torculas, Jenny Rojales, Rich Gutierrez (with her sister and cousin), Ria Coronel.

Ms Liza Maza’s consuming passion is Women’s Rights.  She was very definite about it and has a solid track record in legislation for that advocacy.  In contrast Mr Joey de Venecia’s fame is based on his family’s name in politics plus his whistle-blowing on a recent issue involving corruption in the government.  He had a whole gamut of issues which he wanted to espouse.  As Moderator I expressed the opinion that if candidates could run on a platform based on Rotary International’s emphases, which are Education and Literacy; Environment, Water and Sanitation; and Health and Nutrition, they could not go wrong.

And so the very laudable RVote project was carried on that evening, with Rotary Club of Makati Jose P. Rizal having been chosen as one of the clubs to host one of the continuing sessions.  It was truly a unique example of implementing this year’s theme “The Future of Rotary Is in Your Hands,” carried over by District 3830 into the arena of safeguarding one’s ballot by giving voters information enabling us to make our own intelligent assessments and choices.