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Position paper on the need to improve Overseas Absentee Voting

Prepared by Migrante International, October 2010

Migrante International maintains that the low participation of Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) in the recently-
concluded 2010 Presidential Elections cannot just be dismissed as the result of a so-called growing apathy
among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), contrary to claims by the government and some migrant advocacy
groups.

While OAV turn-out was indeed low, we believe that it is more important and urgent to review and evaluate the
limiting provisions in Republic Act 9189 or the OAV Act, as well as the indifference of some government
agencies, particularly the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to
OFWs issues and complaints pertaining the actual processes and implementing procedures of the OAV. These,
primarily, are the main reasons for the massive disenfranchisement of overseas Filipino voters.

Below are some measures that can be undertaken in order to improve the system of OAV thereby ensuring
greater participation and preventing massive disenfranchisement of millions of Filipinos overseas:


1. The conduct of continuing OAV registration should be more systematic, wide-spread and accessible.

Continuing registration for OAV should be all-year round. For the 2010 Presidential Elections, for instance, it did
not help at all with awareness-raising, voter education and the promotion of greater participation that the
continuing registration for OAV was shortened by a few months.

There is also a need for the government to set up a mechanism to allow qualified Filipino voters to register as
absentee voters inside and outside the country, all-year round. Section 7 of RA 9189 states that the COMELEC
should ensure that the benefits of the system of continuing registration are extended to qualified overseas
absentee voters. A significant number of OFWs, for instance, have complained that they wanted to take the
opportunity to register for OAV during their vacation in the Philippines, when their time is not as limited as
when they are working abroad. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism or venue for OAV registration within the
country.

In the same vein, registered overseas absentee voters must also be allowed to file applications for transfer of
their registration records from overseas post to another overseas post or from overseas post to local
registration, all year round. This will ensure that cases of disenfranchisement resulting from contract expirations,
job transfers and repatriation among OFWs are prevented. While resolutions were implemented, particularly in
the Middle East, during the past elections to address this issue, a blanket policy is lacking for the benefit of all
qualified Filipino voters elsewhere.

In the home front, steps must also be undertaken to allow a year-round pre-departure OAV registration in the
NAIA, POEA and OWWA. With this alone, we can expect to register an estimated 4,500 Filipinos daily or more
than one million per year. This provision should be institutionalized and included in the IRR of RA 9189. The OAV
Office Address: 45 Cambridge St, Cubao, Quezon City Telefax: (02)911-4910
Email: migrante2007@yahoo.com.ph Website: http://migranteinternational.org



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Act also states that pre-departure programs and services of the agencies mentioned above can be utilized by the
COMELEC for purposes of facilitating and popularizing OAV registration.

Overseas, Consulates and Embassies should conduct regular and accessible satellite and/or online registration
in various OFW concentrations, such as tambayans, workplaces and housing facilities. Through this, OFWs would
be spared extra costs and the effort of travelling long hours just to register. Case in point, in some parts of the
Middle East, each OFW had to spend as much as P20,000 for transportation costs to go to registration sites.
There is also the practical problem of having to obtain an extra day-off or holiday to register as OFWs usually
have weekends off, when registration centers are closed.

Furthermore, RA 9189 allows the Commission on Elections to prescribe additional procedures for overseas
absentee registration pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 8189 or the Voters Registration Act of
1996, thus, giving the COMELEC mandate to implement these measures.


2. There is a an urgent need to conduct a more massive voter education drive by the government

The COMELEC must step up its voter education drive to encourage departing and overseas Filipinos to register
as absentee voters. Correspondingly, a massive voter education drive will also be instrumental in encouraging
those who are already overseas to register and, ultimately, to exercise their right to vote.

The COMELEC should explore the possibility of including OAV voter education in the Pre-departure Orientation
Seminars (PDOS). Focus should be given on the importance and relevance of the OFW vote and its implications
in the advancement of OFWs rights, welfare and protection.

The COMELEC should also explore and be more open to coordination with various OFW organizations in this
endeavor.


3. Special attention should be given to vulnerable sectors

Special attention must be given to the huge number of Filipino domestic workers in the Middle East who are
forbidden to leave their employers houses and whose travel documents have been unjustly confiscated by their
employers. Because of their sheer number alone, it would be unforgivable if the government allows them to be
disenfranchised.

Steps must also be undertaken by Philippine embassies to ensure that Filipino domestic workers be able to
register and exercise their right to vote. The POEA Guidelines on the Deployment of Filipino Household Service
Workers (HSW) that explicitly states that the employer is mandated by contract to present the person of the
HSW to the Philippine Embassy when so required should be strictly implemented. The exercise and
compliance of Philippine embassies to this provision will not only solve disenfranchisement of OFWs but prevent
and address numerous human and labor rights violations against OFWs.

For Filipino seafarers, mechanisms and steps should be enacted to ensure that they be accorded the opportunity
to register at any Philippine post worldwide all year round. The COMELEC should also explore the possibility of
including them in the sectors allowed mobile voting or to vote via the Internet.

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Likewise, Philippine Embassies and Consulates should give undocumented OFWs the chance to register and
vote, regardless of their status. RA 9189 clearly states that ALL citizens of the Philippines abroad, regardless of
their immigration status, can participate in Philippine elections via the OAV. However, because of lack of voter
education and assurance of protection from the Philippine government, undocumented OFWs suffer
disenfranchisement. The COMELEC and the DFA should find ways and enact policies that would encourage them
to surface and participate without jeopardizing their status in their host country.
4. Other possible amendments to RA 9189

Scrapping of mandatory requirement of affidavit of intent to return
The mandatory requirement for Filipino immigrants and permanent residents abroad to execute an affidavit of
intent to return to the Philippines within three years after the approval of registration should be evaluated and
reviewed, and if its effects proven to be substantially negative, repealed. This limiting provision in the OAV Act
essentially shuts the door for almost half of the total number of Filipinos abroad to exercise their right of
suffrage.

COMELEC Commissioner Armando Velasco, who chaired the poll bodys Committee on Overseas Absentee
Voting (COAV), was correct when he said: Who would want to come back to the Philippines based on this
requirementespecially if youre already established in the U.S.? It is not a big loss if we remove that
requirement from the overseas absentee voting law. More people will register if that is removed.

Said provision is also inconsistent with the provision in the OAV Act stipulating that ALL Filipino citizens must be
accorded with the right to vote.

Setting up of a permanent committee
Calls for the setting-up of a permanent committee to take charge of the implementation of the OAV must be
supported and upheld. Said committee must be headed by the COMELEC and not the DFA, as suggested by its
Undersecretary. The Constitution is very specific when it stated that only the COMELEC is the sole authority in
electoral concerns and practices. Moreover, RA 9189 clearly states that the COMELEC has exclusive charge in
the implementation of this Act.

Adoption of other means of voting
The COMELEC must also explore the viability of adopting other means of voting such as online and postal voting.
However, steps and safeguards must be undertaken so that these are secured and fraud-free.

/eof