Through the collaborative effort of the related agencies and the civil society organizations, the creation of the Provincial Election Action Center (PEMAC) was realized. It becomes a bridge to have a sharing and counter validation of the data received from the ground during the May 13, 2013 national and local synchronized elections. The objective of the PEMAC is to serve as the central monitoring unit where information relative to the conduct of election including security coverage will be addressed.
The PEMAC office was established at Kampo Ranao of the 103rd Infantry Brigade led by Col. Glenn Macasero. This Election Monitoring team was comprised of different civil society organizations, various sectors, NGOs, two-way radio groups, traditional and religious leaders, legal and paralegal groups, media, DEPED, COMELEC, PNP, AFP, MILF, and COMELEC-accredited watchdogs such as Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reform or known as Citizens CARE.
The PEMAC assists in the conduct of election due to its various sources of information, and the reports are directly addressed to concerned deputized agencies for proper response. As Col. Macasero said, “timely reporting is very important for a quicker response by authorities”. He added that the successful conduct of the election does not rely with the military or the PNP alone but with full participation of the people in safeguarding the sanctity of ballots. “We need the full support and cooperation of election watchdog such as the Citizens CARE,” he said.
Faridah Salic, a BOT member of Citizens CARE and in-charge at the PEMAC center expressed that “The setting up of a centralized information and monitoring center is another successful tool in order to gather accurate and precise information. Also, our Citizens CARE monitors play a tremendous role in giving us information directly from the ground.”