7 March 2013 – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in partnership with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) recently conducted a three-day training on the conduct of voting, counting and canvassing for the personnel of Philippine Foreign Service Posts and Manila Economic and Cultural Offices who will act as Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI), Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group (SBRCG) and Special Board of Canvassers (SBOC) on the May 13, 2013 national elections.
The training was conducted at Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila from February 11 to 13.
The session with the singing of the Philippine national anthem by the COMELEC Chorale. This was followed by speeches and remarks from Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose S. Brillantes, Chairman of the DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat, COMELEC Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. and COMELEC Committee on Absentee Voting (COAV) Chairman, Commissioner Lucenito N. Tagle.
A total of 85 representatives from different FSPs in Asia and the Pacific Region which also includes the MECOs and a number of FSPs in the Middle East and African Region attended and participated the aforementioned training which is just a kick-off of a series of similar trainings that will be conducted in strategically located areas abroad to cover all regions of the world.
The first two days focused on lectures, while the last day was devoted to hands-on training through a mock election. Overseas Voting 2013 t-shirts were given as prizes to groups that excelled in the mock elections.
The closing program was highlighted with messages from two training participants, Philippine Ambassador to Australia Belen F. Anota and former OAV Vice Chairman, Philippine Ambassador to Israel Generoso D.G. Calonge.
The three-day training concluded with the awarding of certificates of appreciation to the participants and certificates of commendation to the COMELEC trainors and members of the training secretariat from DFA-OAVS and COMELEC-COAV. END
