The Philippine Online Chronicles

The news item was so small and undistinguished, -- relegated as it was to the inside pages of the newspaper -- it could have been easily missed by the casual reader. But the headline, once caught, was riveting enough: “No accreditation for NAMFREL.”

For the first time since 1986, the group has been denied the official endorsement that would entitle it to receive the fourth copy of official election returns with which it used to conduct its own Operation Quick Count or OQC.

Come again? An unaccredited National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel)?

Have the stars dropped out from the skies? Has the Sentinel lost its lamp?

The generations that immediately came after mine were a generation of NAMFREL volunteers – men and women who relished the idea of holding a candle in the dark instead of cursing the wretched black.

During the snap elections that broke the Marcos dictatorship, NAMFREL volunteers were regarded as small, splendid heroes, literally working far into the night and against all odds to make sure voters’ votes counted.

“In succeeding national elections, NAMFREL relied on its thousands of volunteers to continue its mission of voter education, conducting candidates’ fora, monitoring the electoral process, pollwatching and, finally, pioneering a new element in that process: Operation Quick Count. OQC filled in the gap created by the long delay in the proclamation of winning candidates on the national level, a consequence of which was the proliferation of election protests and the manipulation of election results. Operation Quick Count was, in a sense, the beginning of the use of computers in the electoral process.”

Thus, back in the 1980s through the 1990s, many young and not so young and idealistic men and women have come forward, hitching their wagon to the NAMFREL star that shone with precepts like:

Democracy comes through hard work and continuing vigilance.

A clean and honest government can only come from the united efforts of its citizenry.

A clean and honest government can bring about a better life for citizens and their children.

I myself never pencil pushed nor counted votes for NAMFREL but I remember seeking out the young volunteers at my precinct to bring them hot meals and snacks after voting has closed and virtually giving them pats in the back.

NAMFREL didn’t only make Philippine history; it also became a world benchmark to follow in public participation during elections. The United Nations UNDP has invited NAMFREL to monitor elections in Cambodia. NAMFREL volunteers have served as trainers, observers, team members, election administrators, and resource persons in 31 countries around the world. It was nominated to the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

How has NAMFREL lost its luster?

As far as I remember, NAMFREL credibility was seriously put to question during the 2004 national election when it showed partiality for incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo against close rival Fernando Poe, Jr.

It seems NAMFREL dropped its much-vaunted vigilance during the so-called dagdag-bawas scam that marred the counting of ballots in parts of Mindanao.

In Senator Aquilino Pimentel’s words, NAMFREL’s Jose Concepcion (its founding chairman) and Bill Luz (then chairman) “unscrupulously displayed lack of impartiality when they failed to act on the report of NAMFREL provincial chairman Hadji Abdullah Lacsasa Dalidig about rampant tampering and falsification of certificates of canvass, statements of votes, and election returns in Lanao del Sur, resulting in the illegal subtraction of votes of opposition contender Fernando Poe, Jr. and padding of votes for Mrs. Arroyo.”

Pimentel also charged that NAMFREL became an accomplice to election cheating by tallying first the election returns from Mrs. Arroyo’s known bailiwicks where she won over Poe and as such was guilty of ‘trending.’

Pimentel cited a study done by Roberto Verzola, an IT practitioner and former NAMFREL volunteer, that showed that NAMFREL tallied only 83 percent of all election returns as part of the orchestrated plot to conceal the real outcome of the presidential contest.

To these charges, Luz could only explain feebly that NAMFREL was not able to tally all the election returns because the returns from many precincts were badly prepared and certain figures were unreadable.

Pimentel also said that the integrity of the leadership of NAMFREL was further eroded when a subsidiary of the Concepcion family-owned RFM Corporation donated thousands of boxes of bottled water to the Arroyo election campaign.

(On hindisight, NAMFREL leaders likely dropped their guard in their paranoia over the prospect of yet again electing another movie actor as president. It was a paranoia shared by many, including this blogger, who, may I also hastily add, has lived to regret she actually wished for GMA to cheat in 2004.)

The NAMFREL has since changed its leaders.

Nonetheless, the COMELEC seems unconvinced it has cleaned up its act, as it noted that new NAMFREL Chair Jose Cuisia has joined the late former president Corazon Aquino, mother of Presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III, during the protest rally in Makati City against the administration.

The COMELEC likewise ruled that the participation of NAMFREL leaders in political marches against deposed president Joseph Estrada, another presidential candidate, manifested partisan leanings.

Although it is difficult to imagine an election without the ubiquitous and hardworking NAMFREL volunteers, we can manage without them – at least for the time being.

We need not rage against the dying or the diminishing of the light that was NAMFREL. This light has been celebrated enough. I dare say the light has been imbibed well enough by many. The light can shine within each of us.

Let us project the light in our own way. Through our own wise and informed choices. Through our own watchfulness. Through groups we join. Through knowledge and information we share offline or online. Through forums, get-togethers, discussions, rallies, twitters, plurks, Facebook shout-outs, blogs, and blog sites.

Back in the 1980s the war NAMFREL waged was clear enough – the forces of dark against the forces of light. It was as simple as this: the dictatorship was dark; all who resisted it were for the light.

Today, there is no categorical black and white. I only see shades of gray.

Photo from NAMFREL Facebook Page. Some Rights Reserved.