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OFW kin's help sought
on absentee voting law
August 12, 2003
Families of overseas Filipinos must help out government
in its information campaign, Presidential Adviser
on Overseas Filipino Communities Secretary Heherson
T. Alvarez today urged, to avoid wasting Republic
Act 9189 or the Overseas Absentee Voting Act that
will allow them to vote while abroad beginning with
the May 2004 national elections.
Alvarez made the appeal following reports of very
low outputs of overseas voter registrations worldwide
which was pegged at a mere 10,000 by the Commission
on Elections (COMELEC) over the weekend.
"We call on the kin of Filipinos abroad to
please inform your relatives overseas to go out
and register in all of our embassies and consular
offices abroad before the registration period ends
on Sept. 30. Otherwise, their right of suffrage
will go to waste," he stressed.
Latest COMELEC figures reveal that of the 10,000
registrants, 6,172 were from Hong Kong-based OFWs;
600 from the United States and Canada; and 616 from
those working in other Asian countries.
Government expects some 2.5 million overseas Filipinos
to register and vote this coming election but most
of the overseas Filipinos in the Middle East and
in European claim that embassies and consular offices
are so far from their workplaces and that they would
not risk not going to work and lose a day's pay
to register to vote.
"Eventually, they have to make the ultimate
sacrifice and be part of the changing landscape
of our country's democratic history. This is their
patriotic duty. They will be the first batch of
OFWs who will make history," Alvarez added.
He admitted that the COMELEC may not have enough
resources and manpower for a global information
drive so that government needs all the help it can
get to allow overseas Filipinos to vote for president,
vice president, senators and party-list representatives.
"The billions sent home by your relatives overseas
help pump-prime the economy. They uplift the lives
of many of their countrymen. But as Filipinos, their
participation in nation-building could go beyond
monetary contribution. They can now effect an intelligent
choice of national leaders. To do this, they must
first go out and register," he added.
It is estimated that at least 10 percent of the
Philippine population or about 7.5 million Filipinos
are residing overseas, with their combined dollar
remittances back home totaling more than US$8 billion
annually.
Some 3.05 million are working as nurses, care givers,
IT professionals, engineers, entertainers and domestic
helpers. About 2.74 million are permanent residents
while the remaining 1.62 million are Filipinos on
irregular status.
There are also over 300,000 active seamen while
another 150,000 are awaiting placement or deployment
overseas.
Saudi Arabia accounts for the biggest concentration
of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Hong Kong ranks
second and Japan comes in third. The other major
countries of destination for OFWs are the United
Arab Emirates, Taiwan, the United States, Malaysia,
Singapore and Kuwait.
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