MANILA, 14 April 2007 — Opposition senatorial candidates are gravely concerned about the conduct of the overseas absentee voting for about half a million Filipinos abroad which starts today until May 14.

Tarlac Rep. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who is running under the Genuine Opposition (GO) ticket, said his primary concern was safeguarding the overseas vote.

“It can be a potential area of concern,” Aquino said during a sortie with other GO candidates in Cagayan de Oro City.

Aquino, a three-term congressman, voted against the overseas absentee voting law passed in 2003.

Out of around nine million overseas Filipino workers (OFW), half a million have registered to vote.

According to Aquino, top embassy officials who were all appointed by Malacañang had been placed in a “damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t” situation owing to their allegiance to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“The point is, the appointed ambassador is a subordinate of the president. He would see that in the process of the elections, the administration he is serving is in danger of being unseated thus guaranteeing his replacement. Would that ambassador be more prone to safeguard the votes, or the position?” said Aquino.

Political pundits have said the midterm elections are crucial to the Arroyo administration since a majority victory of the opposition in Congress could lead to a third impeachment attempt against the president.

Another GO candidate, lawyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, is also concerned that he, like most candidates, will not be able to personally monitor the conduct of the absentee voting. Pimentel said he could only call his friends and supporters abroad to guard his votes.

Saudi Arabia has invited him to campaign there, but he said he did not have the time or the resources to do this.

According to the Commission on Elections, 504,110 overseas Filipino workers in over 150 countries will take part in the absentee voting.

Around 158,000 of them will vote personally in embassies and consulates while the rest will send their vote by mail.

Of the registered absentee voters, 218,260 are in the Middle East; 191,760 are in Asia-Pacific countries; 27,240 in North and South America and 48,446 in Europe.

A total of 18,404 Filipino seafarers serving in ocean-going vessels have also registered as absentee voters.

The places with the most number of absentee voters are Hong Kong with 96,505; Saudi Arabia, 58,245; United Arab Emirates, 35,304; and Singapore, 26,835.

— With input from INS