3 govt agencies join hands to reverse poor OAV turnout

MANILA, Philippines - Three government agencies have teamed up to increase the number of overseas absentee voting (OAV) registrants in a mad rush to meet their 1 million quota in the next two months. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said its Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA-OAVS) will sign the MOA with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), and the Commission on Elections–Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (Comelec-COAV) on Thursday (June 4). "This is the first time that the three agencies will collaborate to increase the participation of overseas Filipinos to register as overseas absentee voters in order to participate in the upcoming May 2010 elections," the DFA said in its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). It said the MOA will formalize the agreement made by the DFA-OAVS, CFO, and Comelec-COAV to establish an OAV Registration Center at the CFO office in Manila. Expected to sign the MOA for their respective agencies are DFA Undersecretary Secretariat Rafael Seguis, head of Special and Oceans Concerns and c hairman of the OAVS; CFO Secretary Dante Ang; and Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, chairman of the COAV. "The establishment of the registration center aims to bring the registration process closer and more accessible to the clientele of CFO. These include Filipino permanent migrants or permanent residents abroad, Filipinos overseas who have become citizens of other countries, and Filipino spouses and fiancées of foreign nationals leaving the country," the DFA said. As of Wednesday (June 3), the government managed to get only 92, 175 overseas Filipino registrants for the 2010 elections. To reach the million-mark, the government needs at least 166,666 registrants every month since the OAV registration started last February. With the OAV registration’s Aug. 31 deadline looming, the DFA needs at least 907,825 more registrants in the next two months to meet its target. There are 8.7 million overseas Filipinos, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, including 4.1 million contractual workers and about 900,000 undocumented migrants. To meet their quota, the DFA offered registration activities for overseas Filipinos in all 93 Foreign Service Posts, three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), and one Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO). [See: Filipinos overseas told to register, vote in 2010 elections] There are also registration centers at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) main office and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Meanwhile, the DFA is eyeing Filipinos in the Middle East to increase its number of OAV registrants by Aug. 31. More than a million Filipinos are working in Arab countries, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But a recently published study by German researchers Dr. Christl Kessler and Stefan Rother showed that OFW returnees from the Middle East and East Asia become cynical about the elections in the Philippines. When the two asked 1,000 OFWs they discovered that while migrants are determined to exercise their democratic right to vote, they also become more critical of the Philippines after having been exposed to more democratic and even authoritarian societies. “I myself am a Filipino, but I don’t give a damn about this country," a 24-year-old respondent from Dubai was quoted as saying. The cynicism of overseas Filipinos is reflected in the recent 2007 mid-term elections where only 15 percent of the 504,122 registered absentee voters across the globe participated in the polls. From reports abroad, most Filipino voters were reluctant to participate in the elections because of strong doubts on the credibility of the election process and amid heavy suspicions that election results would be rigged anyway. [See: Comelec finishes tally of overseas absentee votes] Overseas Filipinos were given the chance to participate in the Philippine polls in 2003 following the passage of Republic Act No. 9189. The law mandates that all citizens of the Philippines abroad, who are not otherwise disqualified by law, at least 18 years old on the day of elections, may vote for president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives. - Joseph Holandes Ubalde, GMANews.TV