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Thursday, March 04, 2004
Speak out: Absentee voting act
By Winifredo P. Eribal
The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 was promulgated May 14, 2003. It was welcomed with the hope that it will benefit about 7.5 million voting Filipinos overseas.
Some of the relevant provisions of the law are the following:
Article 2: “It is the prime duty of the State to provide a system of honest and orderly overseas absentee voting that upholds the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot. Towards this end, the State ensures equal opportunity to qualified citizens of the Philippines abroad in the exercise of this fundamental right.
Article 4: “Coverage. All citizens of the Philippines abroad, not otherwise disqualified by law, at least 18 years of age on the day of the election, and registered overseas absentee voter with an approved application to vote in absentia, may vote for President, Vice-President, Senators and Party-List Representatives.”
Article 5: “All qualified Filipino citizens who are not registered as a voter under Republic Act No. 8189, otherwise known as ‘The Voters Registration Act of 1996,’ shall file an application for registration while those who are already registered as a voter under the said Act shall file an application for certification.
“In both cases, only those whose applications for registration or certification have been approved are qualified to file an application to vote in absentia, and only those with approved application to vote in absentia shall be allowed to vote for President, Vice- President, Senators and Party-List Representatives.”
Article 9: “Manner of Registration. The applicant shall file application for registration as overseas absentee voter personally, as follows:
“a) For qualified Filipinos already abroad, with the representative of the Commission at the Philippines embassy, consulate and other foreign service establishment having consular jurisdiction over the locality where he/she temporarily reside; in case of qualified seafarers, with the representative of the Commission at the Philippine embassy, consulate and other foreign service establishment having consular jurisdiction over the locality where his/her vessel is docked during the registration period.
“b) For qualified Filipinos who will be abroad on election day, with Election Registration Board (The "ERB") of the city /municipality /district where he/she is domiciled prior to his/ her departure fro the Philippines, or with the Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (the `Committee') in case of qualified seafarers.
Article 10: “For purposes of the May 10, 2004 elections, all application for registration as overseas absentee voters shall be filed from July 1, 2003 up to Sept. 30, 2003.
These stiff requirements and complex provisions of the absentee voting act have ensured that Filipino overseas workers will still be deprived of their fundamental right to vote.
Also, the big amount of money required, the time needed to campaign abroad and the uncertainty of gathering enough crowd for a rally have discouraged presidential candidates from campaigning overseas.
This is aside from the fact that majority of the personnel of Philippines embassies and other foreign-service establishments are appointees of the present administration, making partisanship highly possible.
(March 4, 2004 issue)
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