This CEO shows no sign of slowing down and now gets to play a prominent role in monitoring the 2019 elections under the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. Read on to find out more:

Myla Villanueva has just been appointed chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in time for the preparations for the 2019 midterm elections in the Philippines.

In accepting the chairmanship, Villanueva takes on the mandate to lead the organization’s efforts to conduct non-partisan voter education, parallel counting of votes, and poll watching in voting precincts across the country. Her involvement with the PPCRV began in 2009 when she reached out to former chairperson, Ambassador Tita De Villa, because of her concern about the country’s first automated election. Villanueva shares, “I expressed that it had changed the dynamics of poll-watching, and that some poll watchers may project conclusions of cheating onto machines touched or manipulated albeit even regularly. There needed to be a new poll watchers education protocol and conversely, a primer on how to vote and shade those circles on a ballot (under-voting or over-voting would be a very real problem to an under-informed citizen).”

 

Tatler Asia
Above Photo courtesy of Myla Villanueva

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting was founded in 1991 by Jaime Cardinal Sin, Ambassador Tita De Villa and Haydee Yorac. At that time, the first synchronised national and local elections were about to occur after the departure of a long-reigning dictator. In the words of Tita De Villa, "It was time for a national parish-based political but non-partisan lay movement that works assiduously for Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful, and Peaceful (CHAMP) elections."

READ MORE: People By Design: Myla Villanueva

Villanueva is considered a pioneer for women in the field of technology. She is the CEO of MDI, a leading tech company in the Philippines known for infrastructure development, computing services and network security. Concurrently, she is the Managing Director of leading IT and communications solutions company, Novare Technologies, Inc., and the founder of Wolfpac and co-founder of Microwarehouse. Amongst her many accolades, she was also hailed Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2015 Philippine Tatler Ball Awards.