Low registration afflicts overseas absentee voting

ONE out of ten, or roughly eight million Filipinos now work overseas, yet only a little more than 500,000 have registered to vote in the upcoming May elections.

This number is disappointing, says Gene Calogue, the vice-chairperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) Secretariat.

The continued apathy of OAVs is one of the factors behind the low turnout, according to Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Florentino Tuason Jr. Other reasons include the fact that a president will not be elected this year, the distance of OAVs from voting posts, and the requirement to execute an Affidavit of Intent to Return. The affidavit states that one will return to the Philippines to take up permanent residence not later than three years after the approval of registration as an OAV.

Dual citizens however, are qualified to register, even if they have not lived in the Philippines for a long period of time.

Filipinos based overseas became eligible to vote in 2003, after R.A. 9189, “The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003,” was implemented. Over 300,000 Filipinos registered to vote for the 2004 elections.

With the increase in the number of registered OAVs, their political significance and clout is expected to grow, writes Henry Rojas, in “Overseas Absentee Voting: The Philippine Experience.” Rojas is the legal counsel for the Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines, Inc.

In 2004, “significant segments” of the overseas Filipino population were disenfranchised due to the requirement to sign the Affidavit of Intent to Return, Rojas adds. Filipinos of dual citizenship were not allowed to vote because the Comelec decided that they did not comply with residence requirements in the Philippines.

“The geographical dispersal of overseas Filipinos, the short registration period, and the requirement of registration in person prevented many qualified Filipinos abroad from registering as overseas absentee voters,” Rojas said.

In order to encourage more OAVs to register, the Comelec has increased the number of voting posts by mail from three to 59. In 2004, only OAVs in Canda, Japan and the United Kingdom could vote by mail.

Commissioner Tuason also recommends amending Republic Act 9189 in order to create a resident election registration board, a review of the provision requiring the Affidavit of Intent to return, and the adoption of internet voting.

View Tuason’s powerpoint presentation.

The DFA has also been able to reach more Filipino workers by conducting akyat-barko sessions in order to register seafarers.

In order to improve the OAV system, IT specialist Roberto Verzola suggests implementing a system where precinct results will be strictly monitored. Verzola is one of the convenors of Halalang Marangal (Network of Citizens for Honest Elections and Truthful Statistics), which aims to implement a poll-watching system using cellphones in the upcoming elections.

View a walkthrough of Halal’s poll-watching process.