Security still a thorny issue in proposed online voting for OFWs, Brillantes admits
Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Wednesday pushed anew for the approval of Internet voting for overseas Filipinos in time for the 2016 elections, although he admitted that security remains to be a thorny issue that they are still addressing.
“Hindi mo malaman kung sino ba ang bumoboto. Sigurado ba kayo na yung voter ang bumoboto dun sa internet? Yun ang sino-solve namin, supposedly addressed by the technical people,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the opening of the Overseas Voter Registration Center at the Blas Ople-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Development Center in Intramuros, Manila..
The Overseas Voter Registration Center aims to double the number of registered Filipino voters abroad to 2 million. OFWs who were having a training at the OWWA center can have themselves registered there.
Brillantes said they do not have any problem with the registration of OFWs, but with the turnout of voters. He said in 2013 polls, of the 975,263 registered overseas voters, only 118,752 or 16 percent actually voted.
He noted that with Internet voting, voters' turnout is expected to significantly increase.
“Pag may Internet voting, lalaki nang husto ang turnout,” Brillantes said.
“Ang problema lumalaki ang registration, lumiliit ang turnout dahil sa hindi makaboto. Under the current law, kailangang pumunta ka sa consulate at embassy para ka makaboto. Sa Saudi Arabia there are so many, millions of voters, hindi naman sila makabyahe papuntang consulate o embassy. Ganun din yung seafarers na nasa laot. Kung may Internet voting, makakaboto na sila,” he added.
He said most of those who were able to vote were from Hong Kong and Singapore because the consulate in those countries were accessible to Filipino workers.
“Sa Saudi Arabia, 67 million ang registered voters pero dadalawa lang ang consulate natin dun and they would not travel to this consulates just to vote. Unang una, mahigpit sa Saudi Arabia,” Brillantes said.
He said whether or not there will be Internet voting in the 2016 elections is entirely in the hands of Congress.
Game-changer
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis stressed that the vote of OFWs could be a game-changer.
“Imagine if they all vote and the multiplier effect, two million overseas voters and four of their family members, eight million na ang panalo ng senators,” he said in a separate interview.
Brillantes, for his part, believed the overseas votes could reach up to 10 million. He even joked that that could be the reason Vice Presidet Jejomar Binay, who was present in the event, is pushing for the OFWs to vote.
“Kaya nilalakad ni VP Binay yan, sabi niya dyan siya makakakuha. Sabi ko hindi naman sigurado. Kung malaki ang registered voter tapos kokonti ang boboto e di wala ring epekto. Kagaya nung 2013 hindi masyadong nakagalaw dahil 900,000 nga ang botante pero 130,000 lang ang bumoto,” he said.
Binay, the presidential adviser on OFW concerns, did not grant any interview with the media during and even after the event.
He immediately went out of the building after inspecting the registration center to board his vehicle, only stopping for a while to have a selfie with the residents and some employees waiting for him. —KBK, GMA News
“Hindi mo malaman kung sino ba ang bumoboto. Sigurado ba kayo na yung voter ang bumoboto dun sa internet? Yun ang sino-solve namin, supposedly addressed by the technical people,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the opening of the Overseas Voter Registration Center at the Blas Ople-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Development Center in Intramuros, Manila..
The Overseas Voter Registration Center aims to double the number of registered Filipino voters abroad to 2 million. OFWs who were having a training at the OWWA center can have themselves registered there.
Brillantes said they do not have any problem with the registration of OFWs, but with the turnout of voters. He said in 2013 polls, of the 975,263 registered overseas voters, only 118,752 or 16 percent actually voted.
He noted that with Internet voting, voters' turnout is expected to significantly increase.
“Pag may Internet voting, lalaki nang husto ang turnout,” Brillantes said.
“Ang problema lumalaki ang registration, lumiliit ang turnout dahil sa hindi makaboto. Under the current law, kailangang pumunta ka sa consulate at embassy para ka makaboto. Sa Saudi Arabia there are so many, millions of voters, hindi naman sila makabyahe papuntang consulate o embassy. Ganun din yung seafarers na nasa laot. Kung may Internet voting, makakaboto na sila,” he added.
He said most of those who were able to vote were from Hong Kong and Singapore because the consulate in those countries were accessible to Filipino workers.
“Sa Saudi Arabia, 67 million ang registered voters pero dadalawa lang ang consulate natin dun and they would not travel to this consulates just to vote. Unang una, mahigpit sa Saudi Arabia,” Brillantes said.
He said whether or not there will be Internet voting in the 2016 elections is entirely in the hands of Congress.
Game-changer
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis stressed that the vote of OFWs could be a game-changer.
“Imagine if they all vote and the multiplier effect, two million overseas voters and four of their family members, eight million na ang panalo ng senators,” he said in a separate interview.
Brillantes, for his part, believed the overseas votes could reach up to 10 million. He even joked that that could be the reason Vice Presidet Jejomar Binay, who was present in the event, is pushing for the OFWs to vote.
“Kaya nilalakad ni VP Binay yan, sabi niya dyan siya makakakuha. Sabi ko hindi naman sigurado. Kung malaki ang registered voter tapos kokonti ang boboto e di wala ring epekto. Kagaya nung 2013 hindi masyadong nakagalaw dahil 900,000 nga ang botante pero 130,000 lang ang bumoto,” he said.
Binay, the presidential adviser on OFW concerns, did not grant any interview with the media during and even after the event.
He immediately went out of the building after inspecting the registration center to board his vehicle, only stopping for a while to have a selfie with the residents and some employees waiting for him. —KBK, GMA News
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