2010 OAV bugged with old problems, groups say

Faced with what they perceived as “growing apathy" among overseas Filipinos in participating in the elections, migrants’ groups on Thursday scored the government anew for failing to address recurring problems in the overseas absentee voting (OAV) system. In a forum organized by the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW), migrant advocacy groups pointed to the government’s shortcomings, such as failing to improve voter education and unresolved issues with the several voting methods, which resulted in overseas Filipinos being unable to exercise their right to vote. The OAV was implemented from April 10 to May 10 this year, the third time since it was mandated by law under Republic Act 9189. The first and second were for the 2004 and 2007 elections, respectively. “All the other problems already identified in the 2004 and 2007 OAV were still valid for the 2010 OAV," said Henry Rojas, legal counsel of the Center for Migrant Advocacy. Rojas said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) focused on increasing voter registration but had no plans on how to increase voter turnout, and expanded postal voting without addressing wastage of postal ballots. Meanwhile, the certified list of overseas absentee voters (CLOAV) remained inaccurate, with seafarers again composing the majority of those disenfranchised, he added. Both the Comelec and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) admitted they lack the manpower to efficiently implement the OAV. But DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who headed the department’s OAV Secretariat, was quick to add there are other factors which contributed to the this year’s low OAV turnout, such as the mobility of overseas Filipino workers. “These workers transfer but fail to inform the Embassies or the Consulates General of their new address," Seguis explained in the same forum. Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco, who was likewise the chair of the commission’s OAV committee, also said another problem is the absence of an agency dedicated to handling the implementation of the OAV. “There is no permanent committee or agency to implement the OAV, so when administrations change, there is no continuity," Velasco said. Seguis disclosed that of the 589,830 registered overseas Filipinos, only 153,323 or just 26% voted. This is a far cry from the turnout in 2004 when the OAV was first implemented, where 233,092 out of 359,297 participated in the elections, for a record-high voter turnout of 65%. In 2007 however, turnout plunged to 16% when only 81,732 out of the 503,896 registered voters voted. Seguis is thus calling for the creation of a permanent body, possibly under the DFA, whose main task will be to ensure the successful implementation of the OAV. Velasco meanwhile called for the scrapping of the requirement by law for Filipino immigrants to permanently stay in the Philippines three years from registration as an overseas absentee voter. Under RA 9189 or the OAV Law, Filipinos who are permanent residents or immigrants in other countries and who want to register for OAV must first submit a formal written promise to resume residence in the Philippines within three years from approval of their registration. As of August last year, a total of 4,302 OAV applicants were disqualified by the Comelec, in most cases because they failed or refused to submit such written promise. (See: 'Rejected OAV applicants are mostly immigrants') This year’s OAV was marked with various problems, such as missing names on the CLOAV, glitches in the device and the Comelec’s failure to issues voters’ IDs on time. —Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV