OFWs urge government to fund absentee voting next year

Overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) are urging President Arroyo to ensure that funds are allocated for the full implementation of the absentee voting law in next year’s elections.

OFW leaders conveyed the appeal to Secretary Heherson Alvarez, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino communities, during a series of consultations he had with Filipino community leaders in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

In a statement, Alvarez said most of the Filipino workers he met have expressed outrage and disappointment over the statement of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos that absentee voting may not be implemented in the May 2004 polls due to lack of funds.

Alvarez noted that most of them expected Mrs. Arroyo to fill in the shortfall in budgetary allocation since the President has always commended them for their contributions to the Philippine economy through dollar remittances to their families.

During his three-nation Middle East tour, Alvarez also urged OFWs to exercise their right to vote in next year’s polls and to know their rights as migrant workers under the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, which will be enforced starting on July 1.

"OFWs are now part of the global protection of the rights of migrant workers guaranteed by the United Nations. It is therefore essential that you know your rights and status because Filipino migration has become an integral national reality," Alvarez said.

Abalos said on Monday Comelec was contemplating a "selective application" of the absentee voting law since Congress and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) have yet to provide sufficient funds to allow its full implementation.

The Comelec chief said they need P1 billion — P800 million at the least — to conduct elections overseas but Congress allocated only P300 million in 2003 for Comelec to prepare for the elections.

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also aired the same sentiment, saying that to carry out its own role in the conduct of the first-ever overseas elections, they need at least P650 million but the government has allocated only P100 million for 2003.

The DFA officials asserted that for this year alone, the department needs at least P300 million to purchase equipment and facilitate passport verification during the voters’ registration set to run from May to August this year.

The President however assured the two agencies that additional funds will be provided in the 2004 budget.

Nevertheless, Commissioner Florentino Tuason told The STAR that the resolution to adopt the "selective application" of the absentee voting law was already being distributed to members of the poll body for signing.

Under the proposed scheme, absentee voting will be conducted only in the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada, where voting by mail is possible; and in countries with a large concentration of OFWs such as Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York, where voting can be done in person. — With Katherine Adraneda