No less than Commissioner Rene Sarmiento of Commission on Elections (COMELEC) congratulated their web development team by holding a formal launching of their official website last August 15 at COMELEC Session Hall in Intramuros, Manila.
COMELEC Commisssioner Rene Sarmiento congratulates the Web Development Team. (Photo taken from COMELEC Site)
Commissioner Sarmiento advocated for voting rights of Persons With Disabilities. He emphasized on the need to make registration and election information accessible to everyone, including PWDs. Making the site accessible enables everyone to gain access to vital knowledge as well as make use of the technology at the comforts of their own homes.
PWAG President Jojo Esposa briefly explained about web accessibility.
PWAG member and one of its resident validator Ms. Lourdes Borgonia of ATRIEV School for the Blind also congratulated the group. She also demonstrated the use of the JAWS screen reader by a visually impaired person in accessing the COMELEC website. She even practiced looking for a registrant in COMELEC's online database with great ease.
PWAG Member Lourdes Borgonia demonstrates the use of a screen reader. (Photo taken from COMELEC Site)
For his part, PWAG President Jojo Esposa gave a short explanation on what web accessibility is. He also made a short history on the series of trainings and whole night validation of the site in order to give the Award Recognizing Accessible Websites (ARAW) during the the 34th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation week held last July.
From Left: PWAG Esposa, Comelec's Eden Bolo, NCDA Ravelo, Commissioner Sarmiento, NCDA De Jesus and IFES Butoy
Aside from Lourdes, ATRIEV's Carol Catacutan also gave her brief background on their organization. IFES-Philippines' Chief of Party Beverly Hagedorn Thakur also gave an inspirational message on the accessibility of the COMELEC Website.
Comelec's Web Development Team (Photo taken from COMELEC Site)
The COMELEC Web Development Team leader Ms. Eden Bolo presented the features of the Official COMELEC Website. She also congratulated her team in doing a great job in making their site accessible to PWDs.
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