Absentee voting registration target slashed to 100,000

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has revised and lowered its target number of overseas absentee voting (OAV) registrants from 1,000,000 to only 100,000 â€" one-tenth of its original goal. Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuason, the agency official in charge of the OAV, said the registration in some 81 countries was considerably low because of some problems. "Unfortunately, medyo mahina (somewhat low) turnout abroad because of certain factors and these are the problems on distance and securing affidavits of intent to return," Tuason said. Under the law, a Filipino immigrant or permanent resident abroad seeking voter registration must execute an affidavit "declaring that he/she shall resume actual physical permanent residence in the Philippines not later than three years." During the 2004 elections when the OAV was first implemented, prospective absentee voters complained that poll centers were far from their places of employment and that the affidavit made them think twice about bothering to cast their vote. But despite these complaints, registration during that time reached the 400,000-mark, which is a far cry from the figures recently released. As of Wednesday, about 76,000 overseas Filipinos have availed of the absentee registration program and the Comelec has only until the end of next month (August 31) to reach their amended target. This is less than one 1 percent of the estimated 8 million documented and undocumented OFWs across the world. Tuason expressed hopes that the Comelec would be able to achieve the 100,000-mark by opening new registration centers in Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). An average of 400 to 500 registrants are expected to sign up daily at the NAIA and POEA, according to Comelec estimates. Tuason said they have also asked shipowners for help and are planning to conduct onsite registrations while seafarers attend their pre-departure orientation seminars. Comelec Directors Alioden Dalaig and Jose Tolentino are scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia this month to oversee the enlistment of Filipino workers there. COAV records show that majority or almost half of the 76,000 OFWs who registered for the OAV are household workers from Hong Kong , where 35,000 registered, while the lowest number of registrants were based in European countries. The registration of OFWs started October 30, 2005. OFWs are allowed to vote for senatorial candidates and party-list groups during the local and congressional polls, and during national elections, for presidential and vice-presidential candidates-GMANews.TV