LAW SHOULD BE AMENDED TO ENTICE OFWs TO AVAIL
OF ABSENTEE VOTING RIGHT

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban today stressed the urgency of amending the Overseas Absentee Voting Act (Republic Act 9l89) to entice Filipinos abroad to avail of their right to vote for their political leaders in their homeland.

He said the amendments include requiring Philippine embassies and consulates to put up mobile registration centers in areas with huge concentration of overseas Filipino workers and directing government agencies concerned to conduct pre-departure registration of OFWs in international airports and seaports in the country.

Pimentel lamented the prevailing apathy among overseas Filipinos toward their right of suffrage, which was granted to them through a landmark law that was enacted by Congress in response to their clamor.

He said that when he met with members of the Filipino communities in Switzerland and The Netherlands during a recent trip, she was dismayed to find out that most of them have not bothered to register for the first fully-automated Philippine elections in 2010.

"I had the opportunity to talk with a good number of overseas Filipinos. The response to registration for absentee voting for the purpose of computerized elections was very depressing," the minority leader said.

In The Netherlands, he said he was told that the expatriate Filipinos did not want to register as absentee voters because they were afraid that this would jeopardize their status as dual citizens.

He said many Filipinos in different countries don't want to register and vote because they are uncertain whether their votes will be counted. Such apprehension, he said, stemmed from the massive fraud that tainted the 2004 presidential election in the aftermath of the "Hello Garci" controversy.

"I had to tell them that their votes can actually make a difference. If only a significant proportion of overseas Filipinos will exercise their voting right, they can be a swing vote in the presidential, vice presidential and senatorial elections," he said.

Of the estimated more than 4 million qualified overseas Filipinos, only 360,000 registered for the 2004 elections of whom only 65 percent or 233,092 cast their votes.

In the 2007 elections, records show that 503,000 overseas Filipinos registered but a mere 21 percent or 8l,732 cast their ballots. The sharp decline in the actual voting was partly explained by the fact that the last political exercise did not entail voting for the president and vice president.

The proposed amendments to the Overseas Absentee Voting Act are contained in Senate Bill 2333 filed by Senators Pimentel and Manuel Villar which primarily aim to help Filipinos abroad overcome the problems in registering and casting their ballots.

Unless these amendments are passed by Congress, he said absentee voting will be a very expensive exercise that will have negligible impact on the outcome of national elections.

Pimentel said the setting up of mobile voters registration centers will benefit OFWs in countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Canada and United States where they reside and work in provinces or states that are too faraway in cities where Philippine embassies and consulates are based.

Philippine embassies and consulates are tasked with receiving and processing the registration of OFWs for overseas voting. They also function as polling centers where the OFWs cast their ballots and where the votes are counted.

The Pimentel-Villar bill also provides that overseas absentee voters, including seafarers, will have the option to vote either personally or by mail or by any other means (including e-mail) as may be allowed by law but subject to the necessary safeguards.