OFW leaders in HK seek more info on OAV

Some Filipino community leaders in Hong Kong are calling on the Consulate to intensify the information campaign in the run-up to the overseas absentee voting (OAV), which will be held from April 14 to May 14 at the Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town. Cynthia Tellez, chairperson of the Gabriela Women's Party in Hong Kong, laments the scarcity of information from the Consulate, especially as compared to the campaign launched for the first OAV in 2004. "Even sa registration pa lang, information was scarce. Na-extend na iyan ng two months, but not a lot of people knew about it. Hindi intensive ang pagkakalat nila ng impormasyon," says Tellez, adding that the Consulate appears to be inadequately prepared for the vote, for which there are more than 94,000 registered voters. "Last time, we prepared for it (election) the whole year," says Tellez. She recalls that the first OAV saw the collaboration of Consulate and the Filipino community. Mobile registrations were even made in some remote areas such as in Tuen Mun, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, and Discovery Bay. "Noon, magkasama ang Konsulado, kami at iba pang mga organisasyon sa mga miting," she said. "It was better last time. Ngayon parang secret." Tellez also said that she had a hard time getting a copy of the certified list of absentee voters which her group needed before doing the rounds of Filipino community groups in Central to launch its own information campaign. But Vice Consul Alnee Arugay, who is in charge of the OAV secretariat at the Consulate, says the allegation is unfounded. "I think we are doing enough," she says. According to her, they are just awaiting for the full list of candidates from the Commission on Elections before they start a full information campaign. In the meantime, the Consulate is relying on Filcom organizations to help with the information campaign. "We have community partners to do the bulk of the awareness drive," she says. "We also hope that the voters will be able to look into the campaigns of the candidates. We need to advise them to look at these groups and what they stand for," she said. According to her, the Consulate is still working on identifying big groups to carry out voters' education. There are more than 300 organizations registered with the Consulate, but only 50 have maintained their profiles up-to-date. So far, two groups have confirmed their participation in the information drive the University of the Philippines Alumni Association Hong Kong Chapter (UPAA-HK) and the Filipino Community Services and Information Network (Filcomsin). The team-up of UPAA-HK and Filcomsin, however, will not start earlier than the first week of April, or roughly two weeks before the OAV starts. According to UPAA-HK president, Gilbert Legaspi, the focus of its voters' education campaign will be on the process of voting and responsible voting. But it will observe a non-partisan stance, meaning voters will not be told on whom to vote for among the candidates for senators and party-list groups. UPAA-HK will provide speakers who will be fielded around the community for the campaign, Legaspi said, while Filcomsin will take care of logistics and liaising with other members of the Filipino community. But as of this writing, no date and venue for the initial phase of the campaign has been announced yet. Another group that is planning to launch its own information drive is the Jesus is Lord Movement. JIL is campaigning for CIBAC partylist and senatorial candidates who will be endorsed by its head, Eddie Villanueva. JIL pastor, Edgar Robles, agrees that the Consulate should intensify its voters' education campaign. "Actually, they should be the ones doing that," he said. Eman Villanueva, secretary general of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong, also remarked that it should be the government's job to popularize the OAV and educate the registered voters mainly because they have the resources. "Supposedly, dapat ginagawa nila iyan. They should educate the public. Hindi naman sanay ang taong bumoto overseas," he says. - The Sun, Hong Kong