From IT Partner to Command Center: AMA Education System (AMAES) Takes on Bigger Role in PPCRV’s Historic BARMM Parliamentary Elections

FROM PROVIDING TECHNOLOGY TO BECOMING THE NERVE CENTER

For more than four decades, AMA Education System (AMAES) has built its name around technology and education. This September, that expertise takes on a distinctly civic purpose.

As voters take part in the first regular Parliamentary Elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), an AMA facility will serve as the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) Command Center, supporting the independent monitoring of the vote.

Housed at the AMA School of Medicine Annex Building along South Super Highway in Barangay Bangkal, Makati City, the command center marks a significant expansion of AMA’s longstanding partnership with PPCRV.

It also reflects the vision of Dr. Amable R. Aguiluz V, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AMA Education System, 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.

Beginning in 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,” Dr. Amable R. Aguiluz V, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AMA Education System, said at the time. “This collaboration is a testament to our shared commitment to upholding the integrity of our democratic institutions.”

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 reaches a new level: the command center itself comes to AMA.

AT THE CENTER OF A HISTORIC ELECTION

The September 14 vote marks the first regular parliamentary election in BARMM, a milestone in the region’s transition toward a fully elected parliamentary government.

Voters will 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 vote, that verification work will converge 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. Amable R. Aguiluz V, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AMA Education System, education, technology and responsible citizenship have long been interconnected.

“As educators, we take pride in providing quality training to our students worldwide,” Dr. Amable R. Aguiluz V, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AMA Education System, previously said of the PPCRV partnership. “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 will become a hub where volunteers, technology and election data come together for independent verification.

PLDT is also supporting the effort by providing connectivity for the PPCRV Command Center at AMA, while its VITRO data centers will house critical servers receiving data transmitted by automated counting machines.

Together, the connectivity, data centers, computers and command-center infrastructure demonstrate how technology can help strengthen transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

For AMA, the BARMM elections mark 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 is expanding. By opening its Makati facility as the PPCRV Command Center, AMA is providing not only the technology that supports the electoral process, but also the space where volunteers and election data will come together for independent verification.

It reflects the vision long championed by Dr. Amable R. Aguiluz V, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AMA Education System: that technology finds its greatest value when it serves people, institutions and the nation.

On September 14, history will be written at polling centers across BARMM. Hundreds of kilometers away in Makati, AMA will play its part in that history 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.