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Next RP Leaders Now a
Choice
for OFWs to Make: Alvarez
April 9, 2003 , Arab News,
page 10 (Community News)
Dinan Arana, Special to Arab News
ALKHOBAR - Secretary Heherson Alvarez urged the
Overseas Filipino Workers to participate and vote
wisely in next year?s national election if they
want to have a say in selecting the next Philippine
leaders.
" You have the power to vote. You have the
capacity to select your leaders. You can choose
the quality of leadership you want for your country,"
Alvarez told some Filipino community leaders in
the Eastern Region during a dialogue at the Park
Hotel in Alkhobar on Monday.
During the debates on absentee voting for overseas
Filipinos in Congress, proponents argued that allowing
the seven million or so Filipinos abroad to vote
would help ?cleanse? the Philippine voting. This
was based on the perception that overseas Filipinos
would not be affected by vote-buying or terror tactics
because they are economically independent.
It's now time for OFWs to prove that their allies
during the debates were correct, said Alvarez, who
is on a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Jordan
as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's adviser on
Overseas Filipino Communities.
Along with Assistant Secretary Stef Sa'o, Alvarez
will also meet with community members at the Philippine
Consulate in Jeddah today before proceeding to Amman,
Jordan.
On Sunday, he met with the community in Riyadh at
ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla's residence, during
which he was informed of the plight of some distressed
workers.
Yesterday, they visited the AYTB and Al-Suwaidi
in Jubail, where a big numbers of skilled workers
are working. Supervising Welfare Officer Sotero
Tornea of the POLO-OWWA also accompanied them to
the Saad Hospital in Alkhobar to meet with nurses
and other workers.
In Monday's dialogue here in Alkhobar, Alvarez was
able to discuss various issues with OFW representatives
from Alkhobar, Dammam, Abqaiq, Dhahran, Ras Tanura,
Jubail, as well as from Al-Khafji on Saudi Arabi's
border with Kuwait, Hafr Al-Batin on the Iraqi border,
and Al-Hassa on the border with the United Arab
Emirates.
The Absentee Voting issue cropped up when community
leaders sought Alvarez's help in getting Manila
to provide a registration and voting center in Alkhobar
or Dammam for Filipinos in the Eastern Region.
In the implementing rules for the absentee voting
law that is being drafted in Manila , such centers
would be available only at the embassy in Riyadh
and the consulate in Jeddah.
Sammy Perez of Ras Tanura explained during the forum
that requiring OFWs in the Eastern Region to go
to faraway Riyadh to register or vote is ridiculous.
Others suggested that such a rule, unless corrected,
would be tantamount to sabotaging the Overseas Absentee
Voting Act because it makes it so difficult or impossible
for most OFWs in the Eastern Region to exercise
their right to vote.
Alvarez promised to discuss the matter with President
Arroyo. He also said that he will make representations
with Ambassador Guinomla to look into the matter.
Marilou Aquino Araniador raised the question on
how hospital workers could vote when most of them
are not allowed to leave the hospital premises.
In response, Alvarez urged the community leaders
to discuss among themselves and with their members
and find out the best possible way they can cast
their votes.
A question was raised on whether President Arroyo
will not really run for the presidency next year,
as he had vowed.
Alvarez said the president has indeed made that
vow but she also has to make a decision on what
the people want.
"We are the ones to select our president. If
we want her to stay, then she must follow the will
of the people," Alvarez said.
He pointed out that it is only Arroyo who has "a
training" among aspirants for the presidency
on how to be a president. "She is really doing
her job as the president. And a woman who is doing
her job like that must be adjudged according to
the way she discharges her function," Alvarez
said.
He said Arroyo had not failed the overseas Filipino
community, despite the myriad problems being faced
by the government at home.
"President Arroyo created the Office of the
Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Communities
because she cares for you," Alvarez said.
He said his office will be initiating programs to
open up more investment opportunities for OFWs.
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