People say that life today is dictated by economics. What to do, where to work, and even where to live are largely decided by financial and other economic considerations.
Even our definition of the word ?hero? has largely evolved, reflecting the importance of economics to our lives.
The modern-day hero of our country has become the Overseas Filipino Worker, or OFW. Through hard work and much personal sacrifice, the 7.41 million Filipinos outside the country remitted a total of 46.87 billion US Dollars from 1990 to 2001. Their financial contribution to the Philippines ? amounting to 11% of our GNP in year 2000 ? managed to keep our economy afloat.
Yet for all the hype that has been given to praising the OFW as our modern day hero, not much effort has been put in to giving them a voice to choose the country?s leadership.
While the 1987 Constitution mandated Congress to provide for a system of absentee voting, the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Congress failed to enact the Absentee Voting Law.
Meanwhile, Thailand and Indonesia successfully enacted legislation allowing for absentee voting.
The Filipino Abroad: A Profile
The non-passage of the Absentee Voting Law is most lamentable ? considering the importance of overseas Filipinos to our society, economy and daily life.
As of December 2000, 7.4 million Filipinos reside abroad.1
Of this number, 3 million are OFWs, 2.55 million are immigrants and 1.84 million are irregular and undocumented immigrants, or TNT.2 They are all over the world, from New York City to Rotorua in New Zealand. I would be surprised if I did not see Filipino faces in each trip of mine overseas ? regardless of how remote an area I may be visiting.
OFWs are mostly concentrated in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan. On the other hand, most Filipino immigrants settle in the United States.
Many OFWs are domestics. But many too are professionals ? accountants, doctors, engineers. They run companies and households, ships and factories.
OFWs constitute almost 20% of the existing Philippine electorate. Clearly, the overseas Filipino voice is a decisive one in electing our national officials.
Pushing for the Passage of the Absentee Voting Law
In contrast to the failure of past congresses to enact the Absentee Voting Law, the Twelfth Congress has made it priority legislation.
The Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Reform of Codes and Laws ? which I chair, and to which the absentee voting bill has been referred ? is determined to pass the absentee voting law within the year.
Even the opposition ? wary as we are of the undue advantage given by the absentee voting law to the administration ? has pushed for its passage. The primordial right to vote of overseas Filipinos overrides all fears and considerations.
The bill enjoys bicameral and multipartisan support. Never before has any bill enjoyed such broad support as the absentee voting bills.
What we have to do now is making sure that the law not only empowers the overseas Filipino with the right to vote ? it also safeguards the integrity of his ballot as effectively as possible.
Our work involved extensive consultations with overseas Filipinos here and abroad.
Our bicameral consultations took us to Hong Kong and Tokyo, Dubai and Riyadh, Rome, New York and Los Angeles.
We met with over three thousand Filipinos eager to share with us their stories as well as their inputs on the absentee voting bill. We sat down with them and listened to them.
Salient Features of the Absentee Voting Law
Let me share with you important points of the absentee voting bill, and some points we learned from the OFWs we met in our consultations.
All qualified Filipino citizens abroad will be entitled to vote. This includes immigrants who signify an intent to return to the Philippines and undocumented workers.
Absentee voters may vote during national elections for President, Vice President, Senators and Party-List Representatives. They may also vote during referenda and plebiscites.
Voting may be done personally in embassies and consulates. Given the high concentration of Filipinos in some countries, the COMELEC may designate polling centers outside of the embassies and consulates.
Voting may also be done by mail. Eventually, electronic voting may also be done.
Let me now outline for you the safeguards under the law to protect the sanctity of the ballot:
- First, a separate registry for absentee voters shall be maintained by the Comelec to prevent double registration and proxy voting;
- Second, the printed ballots will have security markings, and will be sent to the embassies and consulates within a limited time period;
- Third, on-site counting and canvassing shall be conducted. This safeguard ? the most strongly demanded by overseas Filipinos ? will allow the absentee voters to guard every step of the counting and canvassing, and ensure that their votes are correctly counted and canvassed. On-site counting and canvassing will be synchronized with the counting and canvassing of ballots in the Philippines.
- Fourth, accredited NGO?s and Filipino associations will have the right to participate in safeguarding the electoral process. NGOs will be asked to disseminate campaign information and will be allowed to intervene in all stages of the voting exercise to prevent fraud and coercion.
Given the strong volunteerism and nationalism exhibited by OFWs, I am confident these safeguards ? which rely heavily on OFW participation ? would protect the sanctity of the absentee voter?s ballot.
I am gratified that the Filipinos we met exhibited a strong sense of volunteerism and nationalism, since they would be in the best position to safeguard the integrity of their ballots. And given the fact that these safeguards rely heavily on OFW participation, I am confident that the absentee voting law will hear the true voice of the OFWs.
Acts which are prohibited and penalized under the Omnibus Election Code are also punished under the Absentee Voting Law, including:
? Vote-influencing by public officers;
? Mail-tampering;
? Personal campaigning abroad;
? Giving false information to establish eligibility to vote; and
? Vote buying and selling.
Conclusion
By next week, I will be sponsoring the Joint Committee Report on the Absentee Voting Bill. I hope that we would have passed it into law by June 15 of this year, and we in the Senate are committed to ensuring that absentee voting will take place by 2004.
The night of waiting has been long for our overseas Filipinos. But today ? and especially with the electronic modernization sweeping through the whole world ? we are confident that the wait will soon be over.
Thank you. |