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| (Image Source: Manila Standard/AMA Education System) |
For more than four decades, AMA Education System (AMAES) has built its name around technology and education. That expertise takes on a distinctly civic purpose when an AMA facility served as the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) Command Center in the first regular Parliamentary Elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) last September 14, 2026.
Housed at the AMA School of Medicine Annex Building along South Super Highway in Barangay Bangkal, Makati City, the command center marked a significant expansion of AMA’s longstanding partnership with PPCRV. It also reflects the vision of AMAES Founder and Chairman Emeritus Dr. Amable R. Aguiluz V who has long championed technology as a practical tool for education, institution-building, and national development.
A Partnership Years In The Making
AMA’s work with PPCRV is part of an electoral journey that reaches back to the 1986 snap presidential elections..That year, AMA provided technical support and volunteers for the COMELEC Quick Count at the Philippine International Convention Center. Since then, it has supported 14 national and local polls — 1986, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025 — as election technology evolved from manual quick counts to automated voting and independent verification. Since 2001, AMA also became an election-coverage partner of GMA Network, supporting quick-count and data initiatives alongside institutions such as PLDT-Smart, COMELEC, NAMFREL, and PPCRV. In 2007, GMA-7 and AMA jointly conducted an election quick count with the collaboration continuing through later election coverages including Eleksyon 2016. AMA’s formal technology partnership with PPCRV grew alongside the country’s automated elections. As PPCRV’s official IT partner in 2016, AMA provided equipment and technical manpower, then continued its support in 2019 and 2022 with computers, technical assistance, volunteers, and online training facilities. The partnership was renewed for the 2025 national and local elections. “We are deeply honored to be PPCRV’s information technology partner. This collaboration is a testament to our shared commitment to upholding the integrity of our democratic institutions,” said Dr. Aguiluz V at the time. In 2025, AMA-provided computers supported PPCRV’s Unofficial Parallel Count while its online education platform helped power the Tibok Pinoy voter values formation program. For the BARMM elections, that partnership reached a new level: the command center itself comes to AMA.
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| (Image Source: Manila Standard/AMA Education System) |
At The Center Of A Historic Election
September 14, 2026 marked the first regular parliamentary election in BARMM, a milestone in the region’s transition toward a fully elected parliamentary government. Voters were able to determine the composition of the 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament, placing added importance on election credibility and independent verification. As an accredited citizens’ arm of the Commission on Elections, PPCRV conducts voter education, poll watching, and an unofficial parallel count of electronically transmitted election results. At the command center, volunteers independently encode physical election returns and match them against electronically transmitted results. PPCRV’s double-pass encoding system is designed to strengthen accuracy and flag discrepancies for further scrutiny. For this historic elections, that verification work converged at AMA.
Technology With A Larger Purpose
The expanded role is especially significant for an institution closely identified with the growth of information technology education in the Philippines. For Dr. Aguiluz V, education, technology, and responsible citizenship have long been interconnected. “As educators, we take pride in providing quality training to our students worldwide. This initiative enables us to extend that commitment to Filipino voters, equipping them with the knowledge to make informed choices.” During the BARMM elections, a facility ordinarily dedicated to educating future professionals became a hub where volunteers, technology, and election data come together for independent verification. PLDT supported the effort by providing connectivity for the PPCRV Command Center at AMA while its VITRO data centers housed critical servers receiving data transmitted by automated counting machines. Together, the connectivity, data centers, computers, and command-center infrastructure were able to demonstrate how technology can help strengthen transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
Beyond The Classroom
For AMA, the BARMM elections marked the latest chapter in nearly four decades of supporting Philippine electoral exercises. From the 1986 COMELEC Quick Count and election collaborations with GMA Network to its sustained technology partnership with PPCRV, AMA has placed its people, infrastructure, and IT expertise in the service of credible elections. Now, that role has expanded. With its Makati facility as the PPCRV Command Center, AMA provided not only the technology that supports the electoral process, but also the space where volunteers and election data come together for independent verification. It reflects the vision long championed by Dr. Aguiluz V that technology finds its greatest value when it serves people, institutions, and the nation.
History has been made in BARMM and AMA has played a bigger role in making the region's inaugural parliamentary elections a monumentally successful event, hundreds of kilometers away in Makati, as the home of the PPCRV Command Center. Because beyond the technology, the data, and the systems, what matters most is the integrity of every vote, the trust behind every result, and the confidence of every Filipino that their voice truly counts.
