Comelec to fast-track issuance of voter IDs for Taiwan-bound OFWs

The Commission on Elections will fast-track the issuance of voter identification cards for overseas Filipino workers bound for Taiwan, the Comelec spokesman said Wednesday. “We wish to inform all Taiwan-bound OFWs that we have put in place measures that shall ensure the swift release of their voter ID cards to facilitate visa applications," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a statement. He said Malacañang had requested the Comelec to expedite the issuance of voter IDs for Taiwan-bound OFWs. The request came after the Taiwanese government slowed down the processing of the employment documents of Taiwan-bound Filipino workers after Taipei’s rage over the Philippines' move to deport 14 of its nationals to China. Last December, the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation arrested 14 Taiwanese and 10 mainland Chinese who were supposedly engaged in a multi-million dollar criminal activity using the Internet and mobile gadgets. As a result of the deportation row, the screening process for OFWs applying for jobs in Taiwan has become lengthier than in the past, such that securing an employment visa, which used to take just one week, now takes as long as four months, Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (PILMAT) had said. On the other hand, Jimenez said applications for voter ID issuance may be filed before the Central File Division of the Comelec’s Election Records and Statistics Department at the poll body’s main office in Intramuros, Manila. He said applicants shall only be required to submit proof that he or she is a worker bound for Taiwan, such as an employment contract. However, he said that a processing fee of P75 shall also be required from the requesting party because the ID request is a “special case" which requires the disruption of the printing of the other IDs usually done in batches. According to him, if the request is submitted between 8 a.m. to 12 noon, the ID will be released at 4 p.m. on the same day. — LBG/KBK, GMA News