The disturbing news this week that the Commission on Elections was planning to limit the implementation of overseas absentee voting (OAV) came as a shock to many overseas Filipinos.
Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuason Jr. claimed that because of budgetary constraints OAV might be restricted to OFWs living in the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada, where they would be allowed to vote by mail, and to OFWs in the US, who would be allowed to vote in person. OFWs in the Middle East, Hong Kong and Taiwan would be denied their right to vote in the 2004 national elections because of the lingering repercussions of the war on Iraq and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Asia.
OFWs in these regions know that these reasons are unreasonable and frankly ridiculous. The war in Iraq is already over, making the Middle East more stable than ever, and the SARS outbreak in Asia isn't projected to last until 2004. The Comelec is just using these two factors as excuses for postponing the implementation of OAV in the Middle East and Asia.
"Before it was the wage cut. Now it's the SARS. Is there no end to government excuses?" asked Eman Villanueva, secretary-general of the United Filipinos Hong Kong. "When President Arroyo implemented the ban on the deployment of Filipinos to Hong Kong, she trampled on our right to pursue decent employment. Now it's our long-denied right to vote that is put in peril for nothing but flimsy reasons."
Migrante, the non-governmental group that lobbies for the rights of migrant workers, was equally disdainful of Comelec's plan to limit OAV. "The so-called selective absentee voting will spark worldwide protest among overseas Filipinos, who will be disenfranchised of their right to vote. If selective absentee voting happens, the Arroyo administration will fail to implement the absentee voting law's real intent," said Poe Gratela, Migrante's chairman.
Already OFWs around the globe are girding for yet another battle with the Philippine government. Riyadh-based Alfredo Ganapin of e-Lagda, an online watchdog group, has already called upon all OFWs to launch an e-mail campaign to have OAV fully implemented in all countries in time for the 2004 elections. He urged OFWs to e-mail President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, Comelec commissioner Tuason Jr., Speaker of the House Jose de Venecia and Senate President Franklin Drilon to express their concern and determination to vote in 2004.
Comelec has frankly been acting as if it was against OAV from the first day that it was ever mentioned. It seems no reason is silly enough for Comelec commissioners to claim that absentee voting cannot be implemented just yet. First it was ballot tampering, then it was flying voters, and now it's a lack of funds. What next? From all of their protestations it would seem that the Comelec is the laziest bureaucracy in the government today.
OFWs are already one of the most organized and proactive segments of Philippine civic society, and many OFW groups have pledged that they will help in the 2004 elections by serving as volunteers and official election watchdogs. So what is the Comelec whining about? The bulk of OFWs are working in the Middle East and Asia, not in the UK or the US. To deny them the right to vote in 2004 would be a silly mistake that I don't think any Philippine administration would want to have on their shoulders.
* * *
Why Love Isn't Always for Sale
The other night I was flicking through my television channels when I came upon a fascinating program on BBC Prime. It was Louis Theroux's series called "Weird Weekends". In this episode, Louis, who is the son of American writer Paul Theroux, was in Bangkok, Thailand, investigating the murky world of marriage agencies.
Now I say murky world, because the world of mail order brides has always had a slightly unsavory reputation for both sides of the equation: For Western men who look for Asian wives, it means shopping for a wife and servant all rolled into one; for the Asian women who register with such agencies it means financial stability if they bag the right man.
Of course, many Westerners like to snarl and dismiss the whole marriage agency setup as sophisticated pimping for gold-digging Asian women and sex-starved Western men. While this may seem to be the case on the surface, many more complex feelings are at play here.
Louis focuses on Lake Palmer, a grumpy 56-year-old man from Great Yarmouth in England. Demanding, hot-tempered and not subtle, it's easy to see why Palmer has had a hard time having a successful relationship with any woman in the UK. Desperate to find love and affection, Palmer has signed up with the Anglo-Thai Introductions marriage agency in Bangkok. Run by a sleazy Ronnie Conrad, who looks more like a circus impresario to me than an agency manager, the marriage agency arranges several dates with Thai women for Palmer.
On his first meeting with a Thai woman at the agency, Palmer is already saying "I love you" to the hapless woman who hardly speaks English. They go out to have a meal at a restaurant, but she later turns him down. They haven't clicked. His second date is more successful. The woman looks sophisticated, in her late 40s, and speaks good enough English. They click and within two days they are married.
If you think that's too good to be true, you're right! A skeptical Louis interviews the married couple in their hotel room just minutes after they return from their marriage ceremony. Palmer is ecstatic, while his Thai bride is more subdued. "Would you pass up such a bargain?" Palmer asks Louis rhetorically while glancing at his wife, as if she were some fabulous trinket he had just picked up in the market.
The wife claims that she hasn't married Palmer for his money by telling Louis on camera that she has her own car and house. But for what other reason would anyone marry such a grumpy and not very good looking man, was all I could think of at the time.
At the end of the program, which was filmed I think in 2000, Palmer has returned to the UK, while his wife awaits her UK visa in Bangkok. In a 2001 postscript that I read on the Internet, Palmer returned to Bangkok to look for his wife who never showed up at his doorstep, to find that she has disappeared and the marriage agency closed shop. He's also 10,000 pounds poorer and is deeply in debt.
It seems that Palmer was conned by both Conrad of Anglo-Thai Introductions and by his Thai wife. The only lesson to be learned from all of this is that love can never be bought, it has to be earned.
* * *
Of MSG and Chicken Adobo
Thanks to all of the readers who wrote to me after reading my express chicken adobo recipe in last week's column. I knew many of you would object to the use of MSG in the recipe, and I was right.
One reader wrote in and asked: "Don't you think one teaspoon of MSG is too much?" After consulting the friend who gave me the recipe, I have to admit that the recipe should have read a half-teaspoon of MSG. Apologies to all who were confused.
One reader in the US sent me his recipe for super-express chicken adobo: Take all of the ingredients from last week's recipe, put all into a pot and simmer for half-an hour on the stove before serving. I'm sorry, but even to me that is a little too "express". I think that the reader has been living in the US for too long. Instant oatmeal is one thing, but I think chicken adobo still requires a little more attention and cooking time to taste just right. There are some things in life you just can't hurry. It's like the Americans trying to instill instant democracy in Iraq. I just don't think it will work.
* * *
Comments or questions? Email the author at: [email protected].
* * *
Visit the author's website at http://www.manilamoods.com to read past columns.
Arab News Opinion 18 April 2003
