FORMER Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rene Sarmiento was elected as the new Chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).
The new head of poll body's accredited citizens' arm was elected by the delegates during the group's 176th General Assembly last week.
Sarmiento will lead the PPCRV for six years, which will commence on November 1, 2016 until October 31, 2022.
Having served at the Comelec for seven years, the Chairman-elect is not new to election exercises as he covered both manual and automated election systems.
Sarmiento spearheaded the cause of Persons with Disability voters by providing special voting spaces for them in Voting Centers nationwide.
He is also known as a peace advocate who formed part of the government peace panels of past administrations.
The new PPCRV head will succeed outgoing PPCRV Chairperson Henrietta de Villa, who announced her retirement last May 3.
She disclosed her irreversible decision to pass on the leadership mantle to her successor once the selection process has been completed.
De Villa co-founded the PPCRV with the late Jaime Cardinal Sin in 1991.
The late Haydee Yorac who was then commissioner of the Comelec inspired the movement.
PPCRV is known for two tasks in service of the elections: (1) voters' education nationwide, and (2) mobilization of volunteers to monitor the conduct of elections.
In the 2010 polls, when the automated election system replaced the manual system, the citizens' arm started the conduct the unofficial parallel count of the automated election results.
According to the PPCRV General Assembly, PPCRV’s celebration of its 25th year of service on October 19, “will see the end of an exemplary leadership that spanned a quarter of a century, and the beginning of a new era of recommitment to service and renewed hope.” (FP/Sunnex)