Voting in 2025 National Elections more accessible, easier for Overseas Filipinos

By Gene Alcantara

Voting in the 2025 Philippine national mid-term elections this year is proving much easier for overseas Filipinos than the mixed traditional and automated elections held in 2022.

The Philippine Embassy in London ready to implement and manage the 2025 National Overseas Elections. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

This is because voting can be done online now, from the comfort of one’s home or work and mobile and laptop devices; they do not need to visit the embassy to do so anymore.

Comelec introduced this knowing that Filipinos are mainly technology savvy although many seniors and others might need assistance, in which case they could still visit the embassy.

Overseas voting started last April 13, 2025 and will continue until 12 noon of May 12 in sync with Philippine voting timetable.

77 embassies and consulates worldwide are implementing online voting which is expected to encourage the 1,241,690 registered overseas voters as per Comelec 2025 data, to exercise their right to elect our country’s leaders.

The Philippines posts in Europe conducting online voting include Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Berne, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Rome, Stockholm, The Hague, Vatican, Vienna and Warsaw.

How to know if you are allowed to vote online

First, check if you are in the registered overseas voter’s list in the Philippine Embassy or Consulate in your host countries.   

Instructions issued by the London Embassy on how to enroll as a registered voter. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

For voters in London, the  embassy link is The Official Website of the Philippine Embassy in London, United Kingdom.

Once you confirmed you are registered, access the Comelec website and enrol yourself using your email and password    https://comelec.gov.ph/

Once enrolled, you can access the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS) which will give you the lists of Senatorial and Party-list candidates.

You can choose up to 12 Senatorial  and one Party-list candidates.

Once you have checked your choices, press Submit.  

You will be brought to a screen to check the names you have selected, and once you are satisfied with your choices, press Send. 

You are done.

I found the new mode of voting very easy for me when I personally went to the Philippine Embassy at 10 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG, when I also collected my Certificate of Accreditation as a Mass Media Representative for Pinoy Portal Europe as well as my Media ID card, approved and signed by HE Ambassador Teodoro L Locsin Jr.

The embassy team guided me throughout the process including Vice Consul Josemaria Carlo Magsino, Cultural Attache Grace Banez and Ms Gina.

The Embassy team assisting a voter who later cast her vote. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

At the start of the  voting period,  the turnout was low with single figures so far coming per day.  

On the afternoon of my visit, there was only one other person who voted, who was also assisted by the Embassy team.

They checked my name in the registered voters’ list, then assisted me to enroll in the Comelec website, and once done, I sat at the voting booth in front of a computer.  

Once I logged in using my email address and password, I was presented with a list of the senatoriables and party-lists.  

I chose my candidates and party-list, then the system showed me a summary of my choices.  

I pressed send and I was done.

Overseas voting now much simpler

I know the process this time is much simpler because I was involved in the 2022 elections and every single one since we, overseas Filipinos, were allowed to vote manually with manual counting, initially as “absentee” voters, and then as overseas voters.   

The term absentee was later removed because overseas Filipinos were not considered absent, they just reside in other countries.

In 2022 I was involved not just as a voter, but also as a Poll Watcher for Liberal Party, along with other watchers for Magdalo, Akbayan and other parties.

The Embassy team 3 years ago hard at work on the mixed traditional and automated overseas elections in 2022. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

I experienced how difficult the processes were, and how they had to use the main hall on the first floor of the Philippine Embassy building, as well as the Sentro Rizal and reception rooms,  to hold particularly the large white plastic ballot boxes that had to be locked down every night of the month-long overseas election process.  

I knew also how hard the Embassy team worked to implement the overseas voting in the UK, with late nights as voting machines malfunctioned and internet communications faltered.

Some of the Watchers having a break outside the Embassy in 2022. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

There was laughter certainly together with Watchers who would stay late into the night as the counting progressed, and food shared during the month, but it was serious stuff.  

This time,  they set up just the reception area at No. 10 Suffolk Street as the Comelec Room, with two booths with computers for online voting, in the expectation that voters would vote online from home or their workplaces.

Potential fraud questions

The online system has certainly made it much more accessible and easy for overseas Fiipinos to exercise their vote.

It seems much more efficient and effective for the Embassy team managing the overseas voting.

And I did not see any Watchers this time.

The question remains to be answered though -- is the online system safe, secure and reliable?

The outcome of the elections in 2022 certainly was not satisfactory to everyone because the exercise was marred by accusations of computer fraud during speedy counting /summarising at the end of the last day of elections.

There were complaints about it to Comelec that never prospered.

In 2022,  voters marked their ballot papers and they could see who they voted for before feeding the ballots into the counting machine.

The vote counting machine churning out the paper records of votes in 2022. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

They and the Watchers could see the ballots going into the white boxes.  

If, in answer to allegations of counting fraud, recounting was allowed, it would have been quite simple to reopen the ballot boxes and compare them with the results that came out per precinct or embassy.

This is the issue in internet voting. 

I chose up to 12 senatorial candidates and one party list on the screen.  

However,  once I have marked the names and it showed me my votes on screen, I could not even take a photograph of my online ballot as it was not allowed in the Embassy per Comelec rules (although there is nothing to stop those who vote at home or work from taking photographs, including those who apparently are organising "voting parties").  

The only option was to press submit, and that was it.  

There was no way for me to see if the names I voted actually got submitted.

So basically,  overseas Filipinos have to trust the new mode of voting, that who they voted will be counted, that there is not going to be any computer fraud.   

The outcome of the new leadership and indeed the fate of the nation rests on the reliability and integrity of the OVCS.

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ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE PHILIPPINE EMBASSY LONDON

The Philippine Embassy will hold an information dissemination activity regarding the upcoming midterm elections on 23 April 2025, Wednesday, at 5:00PM at the Embassy’s Sentro Rizal. Relevant dates, voting procedures, and elections rules and offenses, will be discussed.

Filipino community leaders are encouraged to attend and disseminate the information to their organization members. 

Due to space limitations, only the first thirty (30) individuals representing Filipino organizations duly-registered with the Embassy will be accommodated. Interested representatives are requested to register via this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rc3UaTyFMmJ0PeX16MousyspedvpEpmcKoVy19yVNaQ/edit

Those who are unable to secure a slot but have pertinent queries may email: londonpe.overseasvoting@gmail.com .

Thank you.