OFWs cite qualities of candidates they would vote for in coming polls
Some overseas Filipino workers, in random online interviews, have bared the qualities of candidates they would likely vote for in the coming midterm polls through the overseas absentee voting (OAV) system.
“I'll go for politicians who think and act as genuinely as are,” said Jose Rex Navarrosa, 47, a respiratory therapist and clinical instructor at the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam.
In an interview with GMA News Online last January 25, he said: “With President Rodrigo Duterte there is nothing to sensationalize, they get what they want to portray him.”
He was referring to mainstream media's various ways of reporting on the President.
Navarrosa added, “Democracy under Duterte is the right one for the Philippines. Filipinos from all walks of life should be disciplined. If you are a law-abiding citizen, there is nothing to fear. Those who cry that democracy is dying are the ones who want to put the country into chaos.”
Nash Ang, 30, filmmaker in South Korea is also going to vote for someone who thinks and works like the present president.
“Gusto ko ang kanyang pamamalakad sa bansa. It’s part of 'reset and cleanse [approach]' tulad ng nangyari sa ibang bansa bago sila umunlad. Ang downside nito ay nakakabahala lang maging isa ka at ang iyong mga mahal sa buhay sa makakasama sa mapeperwisyo, mapa-batas o minalas man,” he said.
“Karamihan ng mga OFW na nakausap ko feel the same. Probably one of their reasons kaya sila nangibang-bayan ay for a change. And they see the difference na sana ay ganito din ang Pilipinas,” added Ang, a native of Basilan in Mindanao.
“Development can be done in less than 50 years tulad ng South Korea kung ang mga Pinoy ay marunong sumunod at maniwala sa gobyerno. Nung 1950s, sila ang the poorest country dahil sa Korean War. Kailangan natin ng fear of law katulad sa Singapore. Kung wala nun, kahit anong batas pa 'yan, kung wala namang susunod, walang silbi,” he said.
For Taurean Fernandez, 32, instilling "fear" among citizens to follow “isn’t necessarily the answer.”
Fernandez is department head for an international college in Singapore, and who has already traveled to 18 countries.
But he said he would definitely vote for someone who would continue what President Duterte has started.
“Well, fear isn’t necessarily the answer. Although to an extent, yes. I agree initially. But what Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan have in common is not too much on fear of the law but respect for it and civility.”
“We all follow because we recognize that it’s the right thing to do and that by doing so, we maintain [order]. That is what I wish would change in the Philippines and probably having a leader or leaders who ... would make a significant change.”
But Dr. Jean Encinas-Franco, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus—also in an online interview—gave a piece of advice for OFWs.
“The media is the only means through which they (OFWs) can access information on the Philippines, given their various locations,” she said.
“I think it would be best also for migrant associations abroad and trade unions to have forums and talks regarding the elections and what it means for OFWs and their families,” added Franco, who is a former director of the Senate Economic Planning Office.
“OFWs are sometimes influenced by the context or society where they work, so their preferences may reflect their aspirations of a 'good life' and systems of rules in migrant-receiving societies.” —LBG, GMA News
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