MANILA, 29 August 2003 — Diplomatic officials ignorant of the various aspects of the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) law are bound to be “grossly inefficient” and should be recalled, Migrante International said in a press statement.
Migrante said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) can begin its crackdown with Consul Jerome Castro in Rome and Edmond Tanco, in charge of assistance to nationals in Taiwan. “Consul Castro is primarily responsible for the low turnout of registrants in Italy due to his ignorance of the law. Two days before the registration began, Castro announced over the TV program “Ito ang Pinoy!” that a permit to stay (permesso di soggiorno) was a requirement for registration. This is against the Absentee Voting Law. What is Castro’s legal basis for adding a requirement for registration?” Migrante spokesman John Monterona charged.
Migrante’s leaders in Italy reported that Castro’s announcement and conduct has scared Filipinos who were holding valid passports but were overstaying.
“Reports from our chapters in Italy and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) convey that as of August 18, only 235 have registered in Rome and 327 in Milan. Aside from arrogantly adding a requirement for registration, Castro and the diplomatic posts are not into full-swing information dissemination to facilitate the registration of our compatriots in their area of responsibility,” Monterona said.
Italy hosts an estimated 150,000 Overseas Filipino Workers, of whom 40,000-50,000 are in the Rome-Lazio area.
In the case of Tanco, Monterona said his “blatant ignorance” of the OAV law speaks ill of his profession as a lawyer.
When asked for mobile registration centers in Taiwan, Tanco reportedly told OFW community groups that these will be made available in October as it was still too early. Monterona noted that Tanco apparently does not know that the registration of absentee voters, as provided by the law, ends on Sept. 30.
Taiwan has an estimated 71,000 OFWs but only 232 have registered so far.
Monterona said the DFA should not hesitate in pulling out such “delinquent personnel and subject them to comprehensive education on the law.”
