Filipinos from all walks of life have decided to take positive action to preserve democracy in the country by making elections work.  Elections are the basic means of achieving peaceful change.

he National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) is a non-partisan, nationwide organization of individual citizens and civic, religious, professional, business, labor, educational, youth and non-government sectors, voluntarily working for the cause of free, orderly and honest elections.

Namfrel’s commitment is to actively contribute in strengthening democratic processes and institutions, particularly the electoral process and the Comelec.  Its core belief is that an informed and concerned citizenry will contribute time, talent and treasure to achieve clean and honest elections.

As a non-partisan volunteer organization, Namfrel is funded neither by the government, nor by any political party or partisan institutions.  Neither is it funded by any foreign government, corporation or institution. It draws upon contributions made by many civic-minded Filipino citizens who support its mission. 

In between elections, the organization is involved in the passage of laws improving election procedures.  This involvement dates back to 1984, immediately after the Batasang Pambansa elections when Namfrel proposed to the members of congress the “enactment of a strong and impartial Election Code”.

At present, Namfrel remains actively involved in improving the electoral laws and procedures particularly in the modernization of the counting and canvassing by using ballot-counting machines.  The organization prides itself in having contributed significantly to the passage of Republic Act 8436 or the Election Modernization Law of 1997.

Formulation of bills and participating in fora in Congress on the abolition or prohibition of establishment of political dynasties, and on enfranchising Filipinos who are overseas on working contracts to vote in Philippine elections, both Constitutionally-mandated, rank high in the Namfrel between-election-period agenda.

Namfrel was organized in October 1983.  However, its roots can be traced to as far back as the 1960s with the formation of the New Voters Registration Committee, the Citizens National Electoral Assembly (CNEA), the National Citizens Constitutional Convention Movement (NCCM) and the Citizens National Committee for Referenda, Plebiscites and Elections (CINACORPE).  Today, Namfrel continues the tradition of harnessing citizens’ and organizations’ collective strength in working for electoral and political reforms.

(Historical Note  – The acronym Namfrel came about in a natural progression from the original NCMFE, which was difficult to enunciate, and the subsequent NACFREL, which although easier to say, did not sound right.)

Since the Batasang Pambansa elections in 1984, which was Namfrel’s first, it has participated in 18 national and local electoral exercises.  In all the 18 exercises, the Comelec accredited Namfrel as its citizens’ arm.  During these exercises Namfrel conducted voter information and involvement programs like urging voters to vote and vote with the future of the country in mind, and on the rights and responsibilities of voters.  Various chapters convened fora where candidates presented platforms of governance and their qualifications as candidates.  Volunteers also watched the conduct of the voting inside the polling places, recorded and reported the precinct results for Namfrel’s parallel vote count (parallel to that of Comelec’s).  This private sector-initiated parallel count is popularly known as the Operation Quick Count or OQC.

As citizens’ arm, Namfrel offers various forms of assistance to the Comelec like representing the private sector, for purposes of transparency, in the printing of official ballots and election returns, and in the allocation of accountable forms at the provincial and municipal levels.  Comelec municipal and city officers invite Namfrel in various briefing with the members of the board of election inspectors to establish the complementation between them and the private sector.  Comelec provincial officers also offer Namfrel representation in the Special Action Teams composed of Comelec officials, members of the Armed Forces, the police and other groups to monitor the conduct of the elections in their respective areas.

Aside from their involvement in Philippine elections, Namfrel volunteers have also worked as trainers, election observers, election administrators and resource persons in 26 countries since 1986.  Namfrel was invited in Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Cote D’Ivoire, Haiti, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique (with the United National Observer Mission in Mozambique), Nepal, Pakistan, Portugal, Peru, Romania, Russia, South Africa (one mission for the Elections Commission and another the United Nations Observer Mission in South Africa), South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States, and Zambia.

The first international observation solely organized by Namfrel, with the support of the Philippine government, was in the elections in Indonesia in 1999.  Over 100 Namfrel officers and volunteers were deployed in the six provinces in the island of Java to monitor the parliamentary elections.

At the national level, it is governed by the National Council, consisting of the heads of the major national organizations participating in Namfrel.  An Executive Committee executes policies and plans of the organization and supervises the activities of the committees under it.

Heading the National Council are Namfrel National Chairman Jose S. Concepcion, Jr., National Co-Chairman Bishop Dinualdo D. Gutierrez, National Vice-Chairman Vicente R. Jayme and Secretary General Guillermo M. Luz.  Executive Director Telibert C. Laoc leads the eight-member National Secretariat Team. 

At the local level, Namfrel is organized into 77 provincial chapters and 17 city and municipal chapters in the National Capital Region.  A chairperson represents Namfrel in each of the 1,610 cities and municipalities throughout the country.  Each chapter is responsible for manning all the polling places in all the voting centers within the city or municipality in the conduct of Namfrel’s Operation Quick Count (OQC).

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Last Updated: Monday, April 02, 2001 01:40:48 AM