Senate agrees to on-site counting under absentee bill

The Senate committee on suffrage and electoral reforms has reached a consensus that the proposed law on absentee voting should provide for on-site counting and canvass of votes.

The committee, headed by Sen. Edgardo Angara, reached the agreement after meeting more than 1,000 Filipino workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia who echoed the sentiments aired earlier by their counterparts in Hong Kong, Japan and Dubai.

Angara said the initial agreement of the committee to merely pilot-test on-site counting and canvass of votes has been set aside in favor of full implementation.

"If there is one sure way of safeguarding the sanctity of the absentee votes, it is through on-site counting and canvassing. Overseas Filipino workers have long fought for the right to vote. They are the best vanguards of their ballots," he said.

Amid cheers by the audience for the legislators, Angara said that the electoral process will be conducted within embassy or consulate grounds so those found to have violated the election law could be easily prosecuted.

The Riyadh assembly was the biggest so far for the public consultations, which had taken the legislators to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Dubai. Around one million Filipinos live in Saudi Arabia, 350,000 of them in Riyadh.

With Angara were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Senators Vicente Sotto III and Panfilo Lacson, and Reps. Butz Aquino of Makati and Bellaflor Angara-Castillo of Aurora.

The lawmakers said that the commitment made by overseas Filipinos to safeguard the sanctity of their vote heavily influenced them to put the on-site counting and canvass of votes as a major provision of the proposed law on absentee voting.

Angara said he is confident that the measure will sail smoothly through both chambers of Congress.

"Congress will pass the absentee voting law before June 15," he vowed.