A million voters face disenfranchisement

About a million overseas Filipinos may not be able to vote in next year’s elections because of the strict residency requirements of the Absentee Voting Law.

It is feared that immigrants and permanent residents abroad would be disenfranchised unless they declare an intention to return to the Philippines.

Katherine Maceda, vice chairwoman of the overseas absentee voting secretariat at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said apprehensions over this condition were the "biggest drawback" for the low turnout of registrants for the May 2004 elections in Filipinos communities abroad.

"Immigrants are disqualified in the law unless they execute an affidavit of intent to return (to the Philippines) which many of them refused to sign."

However, Maceda said in an interview in the program "Talkback" on ANC television Monday night, the government did not fail in informing overseas Filipinos about the need to register for the elections.

"The drawback there principally is because they refused to sign the declaration of intent to return," she said.

In the United States alone, the registration turnout "barely made the 5,000th mark" because Filipino immigrants or permanent residents fear that returning to the Philippines within three years upon approval of their registration could jeopardize their immigrant status, she added.

Maceda said they have informed the Congress of the Philippines of the "emergence of this scenario" as early as last December or January this year.

Of the 1.7 million overseas Filipinos of voting age, some 400,000 are expected to register before the listing period lapses by month’s end or two weeks from now, she added.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, nearly 160,000 Filipinos abroad have filed their application for registration, according to Director Alioden Dalaig of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) legal department.

Dalaig estimated that the number of overseas registrants would range from 250,000 to 400,000 by the time the deadline for registration expires Sept. 30.

Secretary Heherson Alvarez, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino communities, has asked the Comelec to extend the registration period until Oct. 7.

Alvarez made the appeal anew after Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos rejected his earlier petition seeking to lengthen the registration period by another 30 days to Oct. 30.

But Maceda said it would be difficult to extend the deadline "even by half a month," citing the lengthy processing of all overseas applications once it arrives in Manila, and distributed to municipalities and cities nationwide.

"Comelec has the say (in extending the deadline) because they control the timeline and what they have said is that the national registry of absentee voters should be ready by Nov. 27," she said.

Maceda disputed that poor dissemination of information was the reason behind the low turnout of overseas registrants.

Personnel in embassies and consulates abroad have even set up mobile registration for absentee voters to register, she added.

Maceda said the DFA has maintained a "substantial presence overseas" in leading the information drive on absentee voters’ registration in host countries.

"Our embassies are pretty much on their own, but I cannot accept the reason that we have a low turnout because of poor information dissemination," she said.

"We even pursue the registrants and we bring the data-capturing machines to their doorsteps."

A significant number of registrants were noted in Filipino communities in Hong Kong, Rome, Athens, and Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, she added.

Maceda said she is hopeful that Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates would soon catch up in providing a heavy turnout of registrants.

Under the Absentee Voting Law, an immigrant or a permanent resident is disqualified from taking part in Philippine elections unless he or she complies with its residency requirements.

It stipulates that upon registration, he or she must execute an affidavit declaring the intent of resuming "actual physical permanent residence in the Philippines not later than three years from approval" of his or her registration.

"Such affidavit shall also state that he/she has not applied for citizenship in another country," read the law.

"Failure to return shall be cause for the removal of the name of the immigrant or permanent resident from the National Registry of Absentee Voters and his/her permanent disqualification to vote in absentia."

Maceda urged Filipino immigrants and permanent residents abroad to apply for the retention of their Filipino citizenship by virtue of Republic Act 9225 or the Dual Citizenship Law.

The guidelines under the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003 have already been released by the DFA, she added.