MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Contrary to the news circulating around the Internet, the Commission on Elections still has not acted on the petition of several Filipino-American groups to extend the registration for overseas absentee voting (OAV).
Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy, said Comelec is expected to release its decision on the petition by Tuesday, January 19.
This was confirmed by Ambassador Nestor Padalhin, vice chairman of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ OAV Secretariat. In a text message to INQUIRER.net, he said, “Let’s wait for the Comelec en banc decision on Tuesday.”
On the other hand, recruiters are proposing that Comelec allow the four million overseas Filipino workers now working in 180 sites around the world to register online.
In a statement, recruitment leader Jackson Gan made this proposal as he noted the poor turnout of OFWs who registered in the Middle East, which has about three million (Saudi Arabia alone has almost two million Filipinos, 400,000 in the United Arab Emirates, 300,000 in Qatar, 200,000 in Kuwait, and 150,000 in Bahrain).
“The Comelec can institute measures so that on-line registration can be implemented for our migrant workers not only in the Middle East but also in North America where there are over a million qualified voters, in Europe home to 800,000 Filipinos, and other countries in the world where OFW communities are located,” he said.
From 364,946 active overseas absentee voters between 2003 and 2007, Comelec registered about 224,000 between February 1 and August 31 last year, bringing the total OAV registrants to 589,830, the Comelec had said.
OFWs in the Asia and the Pacific registered the biggest number of registrants with 68,884, followed by Middle East and Africa (48,980), Americas (41,639), and Europe (24,296).
Gan repeated what the OFWs in the Middle East have been saying; they have been unable to register because the registration centers were hundreds of kilometers away from their job sites. At the same time, OFWs there are only allowed days-off on weekends starting Friday afternoon till Saturday.
Earlier, Comelec said it would pilot automated polls in Hong Kong and Singapore; these two places registered the highest turnout of OAV enlistment at 95,355 and 31,853, respectively. –INQUIRER.net
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
#WearMask #WashHands
#Distancing
#TakePicturesVideos
