Comelec junks appeal to extend OAV registration
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday denied due to time constraints the petition filed by a group of overseas Filipinos seeking to extend the overseas absentee voting (OAV) registration.
“Today the petition for extension of overseas absentee voting registration was denied. There will be no extension of OAV registration and that’s official," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said at a press briefing.
He was referring to the appeal made by overseas Filipino Maritess Salientess Bloom of Massachusetts, USA, last January 8 asking the poll body to grant them 28 more days of registration.
The petition was filed by the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, which said overseas Filipinos deserve the same privilege as their fellowmen at home when it comes to registering for the May 10 elections.
“What’s good for Filipinos in the Philippines should be good for Filipinos everywhere. Ano kami (What are we), chopped liver?" said Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman emeritus of the NFFAA, in a separate interview.
Registration for overseas voters ran from Feb. 1 to Aug. 31, 2009, while the one held in the Philippines ran from Dec. 1, 2008 to Oct. 31, 2009. It was later extended for five days - December 21, 22, 23, 28, and 29 – following an order from the Supreme Court.
Contributions
Lewis said the Comelec should take into consideration the contributions made by Filipinos abroad to the economy. “We work, we send money here, bakit kami inaapi (why are they treating us unfairly)?" she said.
Data from the Central Bank indicate that Filipinos abroad sent home a total of $16.43 billion in 2008 alone.
Lewis said that lack of time is not enough reason for the Comelec to deny overseas Filipinos the right to suffrage.
"I just want to express my extreme disappointment that the Comelec has allowed bureaucracy to triumph over the supreme right of the Filipino whether here in the Philippines or abroad to register and vote," she said.
She noted that the registration period was not publicized among overseas Filipinos, and that the Philippine posts are too far from their residences, especially in the United States where there are only seven consulates for the 49 states.
Jimenez, however, maintained that they had done enough to inform overseas Filipinos about the registration. "This is not true, the fact that registration was well publicized, we coursed the information through the different posts. Sufficient notice was given to the public," he said.
Lewis said they just plan to take the matter up to the Supreme Court – a move welcomed by the Comelec.
Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco, who heads the poll body’s OAV committee, earlier said it would be difficult for them to grant the petition because they had already finalized the list of overseas voters and are in the process of preparing the packages of the ballots.
Overseas voting is traditionally done manually. Registered Filipinos abroad are given two options: personal or by mail.
Dismal numbers
A total of 589,830 overseas Filipinos registered for the 2010 elections.
According to the poll body’s statistics, 224,884 new voters were added to the list of 364,946 active voters from the past two elections. In addition to the land-based Filipinos, a total of 21,097 seafarers will also be allowed to vote in the 2010 elections.
Since the OAV was signed into law in 2003, figures have not been encouraging. In the 2004 national elections, only 360,000 of the more than four million qualified overseas Filipinos had registered. Of this figure, only 65 percent or 233,092 actually voted.
In the 2007 midterm elections, at least 145,000 more overseas Filipinos registered to vote but only 81,732 cast their ballots.
Data from the Comelec indicated that the countries with the most number of overseas Filipino voters are Saudi Arabia with 111,549; Hong Kong, 95,355; and the United States of America, 40,430.
In terms of geographic regions, the Middle East and African nations have the most number of overseas voters, with a total of 225,148. The Asia Pacific, meanwhile,
“Today the petition for extension of overseas absentee voting registration was denied. There will be no extension of OAV registration and that’s official," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said at a press briefing.
He was referring to the appeal made by overseas Filipino Maritess Salientess Bloom of Massachusetts, USA, last January 8 asking the poll body to grant them 28 more days of registration.
The petition was filed by the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, which said overseas Filipinos deserve the same privilege as their fellowmen at home when it comes to registering for the May 10 elections.
“What’s good for Filipinos in the Philippines should be good for Filipinos everywhere. Ano kami (What are we), chopped liver?" said Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman emeritus of the NFFAA, in a separate interview.
Registration for overseas voters ran from Feb. 1 to Aug. 31, 2009, while the one held in the Philippines ran from Dec. 1, 2008 to Oct. 31, 2009. It was later extended for five days - December 21, 22, 23, 28, and 29 – following an order from the Supreme Court.
Contributions
Lewis said the Comelec should take into consideration the contributions made by Filipinos abroad to the economy. “We work, we send money here, bakit kami inaapi (why are they treating us unfairly)?" she said.
Data from the Central Bank indicate that Filipinos abroad sent home a total of $16.43 billion in 2008 alone.
Lewis said that lack of time is not enough reason for the Comelec to deny overseas Filipinos the right to suffrage.
"I just want to express my extreme disappointment that the Comelec has allowed bureaucracy to triumph over the supreme right of the Filipino whether here in the Philippines or abroad to register and vote," she said.
She noted that the registration period was not publicized among overseas Filipinos, and that the Philippine posts are too far from their residences, especially in the United States where there are only seven consulates for the 49 states.
Jimenez, however, maintained that they had done enough to inform overseas Filipinos about the registration. "This is not true, the fact that registration was well publicized, we coursed the information through the different posts. Sufficient notice was given to the public," he said.
Lewis said they just plan to take the matter up to the Supreme Court – a move welcomed by the Comelec.
Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco, who heads the poll body’s OAV committee, earlier said it would be difficult for them to grant the petition because they had already finalized the list of overseas voters and are in the process of preparing the packages of the ballots.
Overseas voting is traditionally done manually. Registered Filipinos abroad are given two options: personal or by mail.
Dismal numbers
A total of 589,830 overseas Filipinos registered for the 2010 elections.
According to the poll body’s statistics, 224,884 new voters were added to the list of 364,946 active voters from the past two elections. In addition to the land-based Filipinos, a total of 21,097 seafarers will also be allowed to vote in the 2010 elections.
Since the OAV was signed into law in 2003, figures have not been encouraging. In the 2004 national elections, only 360,000 of the more than four million qualified overseas Filipinos had registered. Of this figure, only 65 percent or 233,092 actually voted.
In the 2007 midterm elections, at least 145,000 more overseas Filipinos registered to vote but only 81,732 cast their ballots.
Data from the Comelec indicated that the countries with the most number of overseas Filipino voters are Saudi Arabia with 111,549; Hong Kong, 95,355; and the United States of America, 40,430.
In terms of geographic regions, the Middle East and African nations have the most number of overseas voters, with a total of 225,148. The Asia Pacific, meanwhile,
Comments