MANILA, 10 May — Representatives of several non-government organizations (NGOs) crowded the Senate yesterday as the chamber opened for floor debate the long-delayed bill seeking to allow overseas Filipinos to vote in Philippine national elections .
An overwhelming majority of 20 senators moved to begin deliberation on Senate Bill 2104, which the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Electoral Reforms prepared out of 11 bills filed in the upper house.
In his sponsorship speech of the consolidated bill, committee chairman Sen. Edgardo Angara called for an early passage of the measure, which he said is expected to change the course of Philippine elections.
“Let us make history today,” said Angara, who led a number of opposition senators in holding public hearings abroad to hear the sentiments of Filipino expatriates.
Angara said it was only right that Overseas Filipino Workers, or OFWs, be granted the right of suffrage in exchange for their lives of sacrifice “spent away from home.”
“The night of waiting has been long for our overseas Filipinos. But today and especially with the electronic modernization sweeping throughout the world we are confident that the wait will soon be over,” he said.
Echoing a statement repeatedly made by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in the past, Angara said the votes cast by overseas Filipinos would be a “cleansing vote” in Philippine elections because of their financial security and their exposure to other governments. Less vulnerable to vote-buying and intimidation, they would provide an intelligent vote, he added. “Theirs is a vote cast not on the basis of personalities or popularity but one cast on the basis of platform and performance,” he said.
He also said that the OFW vote will be a deciding factor in local polls since roughly 20 percent of the electorate will be made up of overseas Filipinos.
Co-sponsoring the measure, entitled “Providing for a System of Absentee Voting, Providing Funds Therefor and Other Purposes,” were Senate President Franklin Drilon, Majority Floor Leader Loren Legarda, Pimentel, Sergio Osmeña III, Vicente Sotto III, Blas Ople, Rodolfo Biazon, Gregorio Honasan, Robert Jaworski, Juan Flavier, Francisco Pangilinan and Ramon Magsaysay.
The salient points of the bill are:
• All overseas Filipinos who are qualified to vote and have not renounced their Filipino citizenship can vote.
• Immigrants and green card holders can vote.
• The absentee voters can vote for president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives. They can also vote on plebiscites and referendums that cover national issues.
• Onsite counting and canvass of votes.
• Relaxed identification requirements for undocumented Filipinos.
• Strict confidentiality on the information filed by those registering as voters.
• Adequate safeguards shall be provided by the Commission on Elections to ensure the sanctity of the voting process.
• Deputization of non-governmental organizations, individuals and other organizations as election officers after a strict process of accreditation.
• Free diplomatic and consular services shall be rendered in connection with the absentee voting process.
• Involvement of NGOs in the information campaign and the drafting of the law’s implementing rules and regulations.
• Longer time shall be given to Filipino seafarers to register and vote.
Angara pointed out that most of the important provisions in the bill were incorporated after the overseas consultations conducted by the bicameral panel of Congress to seven key cities in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.
According to Angara, more than 2,000 Filipinos leave the country every day to work and send the hard currency to prop up the national economy.
They constitute the “missing middle class” that the country’s electoral system badly needs to get a fresh start and massive infusion of intelligent and reform-minded voters, he added.
Villar said the sheer volume of OFWs would make them a potent force that can seriously influence election results. He said that the votes of an estimated 3.5 million OFWs were enough to decide the outcome of national elections.
Villar noted that in the last senatorial elections, the gap between the 12th and 13th placers was only in the thousands.
He also stressed the need to safeguard ballots from overseas that they will accurately reflect the sentiments of OFWs and prevent any discrepancies that may take place.
He said he favors the sending of results through electronic mail.
“If we send ballots through airplanes, results may change once the airplanes take-off,” Villar said.
Legarda said that disenfranchising the OFWs would transform them into second class citizens, which should not be the case.
“I view this as a monumental political tragedy because by this lack, we exclude a powerful voice — the voice of Filipinos struggling and sacrificing in distant lands, a voice of a dynamic and discriminating segment of Philippine society,” she said.
NGO leaders present lauded yesterday’s activities. “It looks like the bill will move faster than that in the House of Representatives,” said Ellene Sana of the Advocacy Desk of the Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-Anak ng Migranteng Pilipino (Kakammpi).
Sana, who has been lobbying for the passage of the bill, expressed optimism that the Senate bill would prod the lower house to pass the counterpart bill, which had been put on hold indefinitely.
Noel Escuela, executive director of eLagda, a web-based organization which has also taken up the cause of absentee voting rights, said he was happy because the senators promised to take up SB 2104 continuously until it is passed.
