MANILA/JEDDAH, 9 May 2007 — Congress might re-think its position of abolishing the Overseas Absentee Voting Law should the low turnout of voters continue, ABS-CBN reported, quoting officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Officials believe that 2010 elections will be a test case if the OAV need further refinements, if not outright abolition, according to the report gathered by the broadcast network.
Foreign service officials manning voting precincts in the country’s embassies and consulates abroad have expressed frustration over the low turnout, with some saying the overseas absentee voting (OAV) exercise is becoming a waste of resources. The DFA alone is said to have already spent some 20 million pesos for the implementation of OAV. The amount does not include the budget allotted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for absentee voting.
Most of the personnel in Philippine overseas missions are currently spending most of their time conducting the vote, but less than 10 percent of absentee voters have voted so far with less than a week left of the one-month period allocated for overseas voting.
As of yesterday, the DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat said 43,296 overseas Filipino workers have voted out of 504,122 registered voters worldwide.
In Europe, only 3,000 have cast their ballots from a total of 48,000 registered voters, the Secretariat reported.
Consul General Pedro Chan of the consulate in Milan, Italy, said only 700 of the 25,000 registered voters have voted so far. The biggest turnout in Europe has been recorded in Athens, Greece, which now reached 1,147 out of 6,000 registered voters.
In Saudi Arabia, which has a total of 127,945 registrants, the three voting centers reported a measly total of 11,065 (8 percent) as of yesterday. Of the total, 5,042 voted in Riyadh, 3,179 in Jeddah, and 2,844 in Alkhobar.
Notwithstanding the poor turnout, Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot in Jeddah said he was still hopeful that those who have not yet voted would find time to perform their duty as citizens by visiting the consulate and cast their votes.
“There’s still time but let’s not wait for the last day to avoid overcrowding,” he said.
Rose Justiniano, the consulate’s action officer for election-related matters, said it was “encouraging and amazing that there are Filipinos who spend their time, money and effort to come and exercise their right to vote.”
She said that a group of nurses from the Royal Commission Medical Center in Yanbu traveled by bus to Jeddah, courtesy of their medical director, who encouraged them to vote. “Another OFW who is now working in Dammam but registered in Jeddah came by plane also to vote,” she said.
Alfred Nunez of Bolinao, Pangasinan, who works at Domino’s Pizza, said he had always participated in Philippine elections, no matter what it cost.
There were also domestic helpers who, in spite of the difficulties they face in getting permit from their sponsors, still managed to come and vote.
A number of voters observed that the voting system at the consulate was better organized this time, compared to the 2004 exercise.
Eduardo Santos of Zahid Tractor, who is from Montalban in Rizal province, and Helen Datarco, a housewife from Cavite province, found the voting process well organized and the poll officials “accomodating.”
