MANILA, 2 October 2005 — Overseas Filipinos who are not yet registered as absentee voters may now begin signing up in Philippine missions abroad in time for the May 2007 election, officials said yesterday.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) set the opening day yesterday and said there is no need to rush since the new registration will last until Aug. 31, next year.
But it urged those who have not participated in last year’s election to do register this time so that the true voice of the country’s overseas community would be heard.
Only 364,187 Filipinos — out of an estimated 7 million abroad — participated in the Philippines’ first-ever overseas voting exercise, which was held from April 11 until May 10, 2004, the election day at home.
Officials attributed the low turnout to the limited registration time (only two months) and other glitches.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, the far distance between some key towns and the voting centers (Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, consulate in Jeddah, and the International Philippine School in Alkhobar) made it difficult for registered voters to go and cast their ballots.
Still, Saudi Arabia posted the biggest number with some 96,000 casting their votes.
Supporters of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 urged others to take advantage of the longer registration period this time so that so that they can help in the selection of the country’s leaders.
The law, also called Republic Act No. 9189, provides all qualified citizens of the Philippines abroad the opportunity to exercise their right to participate in the election of the president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives. In the May 2007 elections, overseas absentee voters will vote only for the 12 slots at stake in the 24-seat Senate and for party-list representatives.
Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Joint Oversight Congressional Committee on Suffrage (JOCC), said the legislature hopes to make it easier for overseas Filipinos to participate with the proposed inclusion of registration via other means such as the postal system or even the Internet.
Among the proposed amendments to the law is a section that states that “the Commission is hereby authorized to prescribe innovative and additional procedures for overseas absentee registration and adopt such other advanced technological system aside from the system being used by the Commission in the local registration.”
Gordon said technical experts should be consulted now so that the necessary advancements to facilitate registration will be in place before the end of the registration period.
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas said Filipinos abroad number 8.083 million although this figure includes 3.187 million immigrants and their families (including children) or about 39 percent and only about 3.599 million documented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) or about 45 percent. Undocumented OFWs account for about 1.297 million or 16 percent.
The Department of Foreign Affairs reported last month that preparations were already in full swing for the OAV registration by improving the human and technical capabilities in foreign service posts.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said foreign service personnel underwent training sessions to “further equip them with additional skills necessary for the smoother implementation of the overseas absentee voters registration.”
Romulo pointed out that a training program was conducted recently which comprehensively discussed COMELEC’s General Instructions for the System of Continuing Registration and presented the Updated Data Capturing Machine (DCM) software that will be used by Foreign Service Posts in the registration.
Over 160 representatives from DFA’s 85 posts and extension office attended the three-day training program in Manila last June, Romulo said.