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Top Filipino official mum on call to abolish voting law

DUBAI - A top Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official in Manila declined to comment on the call of Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco and 21 other Filipino congressmen to abolish the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) law which was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on February 13 last year.

The law enables overseas Filipinos to vote for the president, vice-president, senators, and party-list representatives in the national elections. The foreign service corps set into motion the full machinery to administer and receive ballots by land-based voters in the UAE on April 11 this year. The voting exercise ended on May 10.

“The DFA is mandated by law to assist the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the implementation of the law, so I cannot comment on the merits of that law. However, Congress has the right to amend or abolish the law,” Rafael Seguis, DFA under-secretary and chairman of the OAV Secretariat at the DFA, told Khaleej Times yesterday.

Commenting on the reasons behind the move such as the costly implementation and the low voter turn-out, he said: “The law had certain provisions which were restrictive and not conducive to Filipinos overseas. Given the nature of the seafarers’ work, it was difficult for majority of the registered seafarers to project their port of call during the voting period. The polling places, which were the foreign service establishments, were far from the workplace or residences of a significant number of overseas Filipinos. In addition, we only have 81 posts in 200 countries.” Of an estimated seven million overseas Filipinos, only about 400,000 have registered for the first exercise.

Meanwhile, the call to abolish the OAV drew a mixed reaction among the Filipino community in Dubai. The law was actually the fulfillment of a 15-year-old promise to end the disenfranchisement of Filipinos overseas.

Eric Biglang-Awa, an architect at Holfords Associates in Dubai, said: “Since the overseas absentee voting law has already been implemented, it’s better that we improve upon it and continue to implement it. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) deserve to be given voting rights and abolishing the OAV means taking away the Filipinos’ inherent right of suffrage.”

Randolph Cabalhin, manager at Al Tazaj in Dubai, concurred that the OFWs should not be deprived once again of their right of suffrage.

“Even if I wasn’t able to vote in the May 2004 national elections, I would like to appeal to those congressmen who are in favour of its abolishment to reconsider their decision and think about the sacrifices made by OFWs and their contribution to the economy of the country. OFWs remit about $8 billion annually. I certainly look forward to voting in the next national elections.”

Lilibeth Vasquez, a salesperson at a boutique in Bur Dubai, held a similar view.

“Why do they have to take away our right to vote simply because they found the implementation costly? There are eight million OFWs all over the world and their voices should be heard. The congressmen should even encourage all the OFWs to vote instead of criticising the low voter turnout in the May 2004 elections.”

Leo Nebris, reservations sales agent at JW Marriott Hotel in Dubai, however, felt that it was perfectly alright to abolish the law.

“I don’t mind the call of some Filipino congressmen to abolish the OAV. The whole process was too expensive, but nothing significant came out of it. A lot of OFWs were not able to vote as the law had too many restrictions.

“I registered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but when I was assigned in Dubai, I thought that I will be given the chance to vote here. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to cast my vote at the Consulate in Dubai.”