First Automated Election in the Philippines

Filipinos took part in the country’s first ever automated election on May 10, 2010, the second Monday of May as mandated by law. This brought about a new chapter in the country’s history. It’s a very significant milestone, given those long years of tedious manual election process that not only cast burden on our teachers and volunteers, but had also left doubtful and questionable election results.

The Commission of Election (COMELEC) utilized new technology to modernize the election process. With this, the COMELEC conducted numerous voters’ education campaigns and trainings to introduce the voting public to poll automation, particularly on the new voting process and on how the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine can count votes automatically. Voters do not have to write the names of candidates on ballots. Instead, they shade the egg-shaped circle beside each name of the candidate by using a special pen.

Cebu City – My City Games 2010

The Cebu City Government conducted basketball games in the city’s 60 barangays in line with its My City sports program. The so-called Cebu City My City Games is an inter-barangay sports tournament intended to discourage the youth from being hooked on illegal activities. It has been launched last September 2, 2009. Players 18 to 39 years old can join and take part to play in basketball, volleyball and other sports.

The participating barangays received cash assistance worth P15,000 to pay for their team uniforms and to spend on other necessary expenses related to the conduct of sports activities. Out of 80 barangays in the city, only 60 barangays have their own sports program, with 36 barangays coming from the north and 24 from the south district. Sudlon 2 was among those in the south district to receive cash assistance for the sports activities.