EXCLUSIVE
By Sonny Fernandez
Filipinos in Barcelona cast their ballots during the 2019 elections. Photo by Sandra Sotelo
(2nd update: 6.08 pm, 26th February)
Filipino community leaders abroad, non-government organizations and advocates urged President Rodrigo Duterte to provide needed funds for overseas voting to avoid problems in the coming 2022 elections.
16 OFW groups including the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) recently mounted an online petition via change.org to push government action for additional funding.
In the signature drive launched last February 14, the leaders expressed apprehension over the lack of funds for overseas voting.
“One of the practical implications of this underfunding is that in areas where postal voting is allowed, our embassies and consulates won’t even be able to afford the return postage of the ballots cast. No funds to spend on stamps,” the groups said.
They lamented that a measly P111, 192 million or only 1/5th of the proposed P510M budget was approved for overseas voting under the National Expenditure Program for the fiscal year 2021-2022.
In an earlier online conference, Filcom leaders along with CMA Executive Director Ellene Sana, pointed out that shouldering the cost of sending back postal ballots in mail-in voting may discourage OFWs to vote.
It may also reduce field voting for those doing the personal automated election system (AES) to complement voting in embassies.
The conference last February 14 identified that additional funds can be tapped from the Office of the President.
They appealed to President Duterte to secure needed funds through supplemental budget from the Office of the President (OP).
Bayan Muna Party-list Representative Ferdinand Gaite, member of House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, shares the call of Filcom leaders and CMA for a supplemental budget from the OP since the congress is in recess.
Gaite said that the requested original budget was slashed by the Department of Budget and Management.
He said Bayan Muna supported the approval of requested budget so that
“overseas voters are also ensured of their right to vote, the budget for postage and other expenses are needed.”
Overseas voting begins on April 10 and ends on May 9, the national day of voting in the Philippines.
Records from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) show that there are 1, 718, 714 registered overseas voters for 2022.
In the signature drive, the OFW groups assailed the national government for “curtailing the ability of migrant Filipinos to vote without having to travel to foreign service posts or without having to join lines at the post office to get the correct postage is particularly important at a time when the pandemic still threatens the lives of our compatriots overseas.”
Venecio Legaspi, Chairman Emeritus, OFW Council of Leaders, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and one of the Filcom leaders, slammed the government for being “far from fulfilling its mandate under section2, article 5 of the 1987 constituton,” which seeks to “provide a system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad."
“How come our government remains far from fulfilling this fiat? 35 years already passed. Does the government need half a century or a century to fully provide an OFW-friendly system for us overseas migrant workers to be able to exercise our right of suffrage?,” Legaspi said.
In a separate interview, OFW Watch Italy President Rhoderick Ople recalled that during the 2019 elections, an unaccounted number of ballots failed to reach the voters.
“Sa nagdaang senatorial election 2019, maraming balota ang di nakarating sa mga botante, kung dumating man tapos na eleksyon,”Ople said.
(In the 2019 election, many ballots did not reach the voters or arrived only after the voting period)
Ople is concerned that a far worse situation may happen this coming polls if the limited overseas voting budget is not augmented.
“Maaring mpangyari ulit ito at posibleng lumala pa ngayong 2022 at walang maganap na field voting sa labas ng PE Rome at PCG Milan sa pagtapyas ng budget para dito,” Ople said.
(This may happen again and possibly worse this year that no field voting may be conducted outside the Philippine Embassy in Rome and consulate in Milan as a result of budget cuts.)
In their petition, the OFW leaders and advocates decried that while their remittances contribute significantly to the economy, they feel they are being shortchanged by the national government in terms of election spending.
The statement also calls for an end to “the condescending lip service to our modern-day heroes! Match praise with genuine respect! Allow them to fully and safely exercise their fundamental right to vote.”
Meanwhile, Legaspi called on Filipino migrants to unite and go out and vote.
“Unless we can translate the number of our sectoral population into actual votes, politicians will hardly take us seriously. We, OFWs are always given lower budgetary priority because only less than 20% of OFWs actually casted their votes in previous national elections,” he stressed.
Economists noted that OFW remittances help keep Philippine economy afloat even during pandemic.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that OFW remittances reached $31.59B last Nov 2021, up by 5.3%, year-on-year in the 11 months.
Based on DFA records, there are 10, 368, 855 migrant Filipinos in December, 2020.
Among those who signed the petition include Daphne Ceniza, Overseas Voting (OV) Advocate, Hongkong; Edna Aquino, OFW Financial Literacy Educator, UK & Hongkong; Marvin Bionat, OV Advocate, US; Noel Esquela, OV Advocate, former OFW-Bahrain; Robert Ceralvo, OV Advocate, US; Vic Barrazona, OV Advocate, Saudi Arabia; Carmel V. Abao, Working Group on Migration, Ateneo de Manila University; Melissa Lao, Working Group on Migration, Ateneo de Manila University; Oliver Quintana, Working Group on Migration, Ateneo de Manila University; Julie Javellana-Santos, OV Advocate, Philippines; Irynn A. Abano, Center for Migrant Advocacy, Philippines; Ellene A. Sana, Center for Migrant Advocacy, Philippines; Henry S. Rojas, Lawyers Beyond Borders Philippines; Jane Valeza, OV advocate, Regional Election Director, Bicol Region, currently assigned in CALABARZON; Venecio V. Legaspi, Chairman Emeritus, OFW Council of Leaders, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and Osmundo B. Corpuz, Director for Policy & Compliance, OFW Council of Leaders, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The links to the petition is found below for those who would like to support and sign the demand for additional budget for overseas voting.
END
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