Gov’t needs to look at OAV the OFW way
By Ma. Fe Nicodemus, KAKAMMPI
Government agencies taking care of Filipinos abroad should try to look at the overseas absentee voting in the eyes of OFWs and exert more effort to understand our kababayans’ situation and the factors that hinder them from exercising their right to suffrage.
Reports showed Comelec was still surprised by the low turnout in the overseas absentee voting in the last polls, despite the fact that ever since the OAV law was enacted in 2003, the turnout has always been dismally low.
This year’s result is not even a fraction of the total OFW stock of almost 10 million but a small part of the 737,759 registered voters, representing only a little over seven percent of the total number of Filipinos abroad.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Comelec probably know the reason why only 15 percent of the 737,759 registered voters cast their ballots from April 13 to May 13.
Most OFWs, especially the household service workers, have no time to spare to travel miles to vote. Some are even locked up in their places of work. Many yet are too busy in their day to day occupations and would rather grab any opportunity to earn rather than “waste” precious hours at the polling centers.
What more with the thousands of Filipino seafarers who spend most of their work hours at sea? In the course of our conversations with them we got the idea that among OFW groups, our sailors are most cynical about Philippine elections.
Also, OFWs tend to get more excited to vote in presidential election than in midterm polls, as we have seen in the 26 percent turnout in 2010.
Most of the feedback we got from OFWs point to one thing: casting their ballots for the OAV is “a burden.”
But the Comelec was still surprised of the low turnout. May be it hoped that a good result could justify the millions of pesos spent to get OFWs to vote and to prove the agency’s capability to handle the OAV.
Comelec chief Sixto Brillantes Jr could only say: “Wala tayong pagkukulang. Talagang konti lang ang lumabas [at bomoto].”
So the low turnout was taken to mean the poll body failed to justify the efforts and the money spent for the OAV for this year’s polls.
But OFWs’ right to suffrage should not be seen as a means to achieve the Comelec’s goals and targets.
It seems other concerned government agencies also look at the OAV in a utilitarian way.
Sen. Franklin Drilon, for instance, wanted the Comelec to explain the OAV fiasco, citing the additional budget of P105.038 million for the DFA and P43.41 million for the Comelec.
Drilon vowed he would seek a review of the law in the 16th Congress. By his own calculations, P1, 300 was spent for each ballot cast, and that the Comelec must explain.
May be, the senator also shared the same utilitarian view on OFWs’ right to suffrage – the low turnout has become an issue because it failed to justify the budget allotted for it and the law, which he authored.
But OFWs’ right to suffrage is an end in itself. It shouldn’t be used to justify the additional P184.448-million budget for the 2013 polls, nor should it be used for the purposes of the OAV law or whatever agenda and programs the government may have.
Only by adopting this view could concerned government agencies begin to realize the need to reach out to OFWs, understand their situation, discover innovative approaches to empower them in and through their right to pick leaders with whom they can confidently entrust our country. -- LBG, GMA News
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KAKAMMPI or Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino, Inc., is a community-based organization of families of overseas Filipino workers and migrant returnees. It was formed in 1983 to help in efforts to protect the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos and respond to the problems generated by overseas migration.
Government agencies taking care of Filipinos abroad should try to look at the overseas absentee voting in the eyes of OFWs and exert more effort to understand our kababayans’ situation and the factors that hinder them from exercising their right to suffrage.
Reports showed Comelec was still surprised by the low turnout in the overseas absentee voting in the last polls, despite the fact that ever since the OAV law was enacted in 2003, the turnout has always been dismally low.
This year’s result is not even a fraction of the total OFW stock of almost 10 million but a small part of the 737,759 registered voters, representing only a little over seven percent of the total number of Filipinos abroad.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Comelec probably know the reason why only 15 percent of the 737,759 registered voters cast their ballots from April 13 to May 13.
Most OFWs, especially the household service workers, have no time to spare to travel miles to vote. Some are even locked up in their places of work. Many yet are too busy in their day to day occupations and would rather grab any opportunity to earn rather than “waste” precious hours at the polling centers.
What more with the thousands of Filipino seafarers who spend most of their work hours at sea? In the course of our conversations with them we got the idea that among OFW groups, our sailors are most cynical about Philippine elections.
Also, OFWs tend to get more excited to vote in presidential election than in midterm polls, as we have seen in the 26 percent turnout in 2010.
Most of the feedback we got from OFWs point to one thing: casting their ballots for the OAV is “a burden.”
But the Comelec was still surprised of the low turnout. May be it hoped that a good result could justify the millions of pesos spent to get OFWs to vote and to prove the agency’s capability to handle the OAV.
Comelec chief Sixto Brillantes Jr could only say: “Wala tayong pagkukulang. Talagang konti lang ang lumabas [at bomoto].”
So the low turnout was taken to mean the poll body failed to justify the efforts and the money spent for the OAV for this year’s polls.
But OFWs’ right to suffrage should not be seen as a means to achieve the Comelec’s goals and targets.
It seems other concerned government agencies also look at the OAV in a utilitarian way.
Sen. Franklin Drilon, for instance, wanted the Comelec to explain the OAV fiasco, citing the additional budget of P105.038 million for the DFA and P43.41 million for the Comelec.
Drilon vowed he would seek a review of the law in the 16th Congress. By his own calculations, P1, 300 was spent for each ballot cast, and that the Comelec must explain.
May be, the senator also shared the same utilitarian view on OFWs’ right to suffrage – the low turnout has become an issue because it failed to justify the budget allotted for it and the law, which he authored.
But OFWs’ right to suffrage is an end in itself. It shouldn’t be used to justify the additional P184.448-million budget for the 2013 polls, nor should it be used for the purposes of the OAV law or whatever agenda and programs the government may have.
Only by adopting this view could concerned government agencies begin to realize the need to reach out to OFWs, understand their situation, discover innovative approaches to empower them in and through their right to pick leaders with whom they can confidently entrust our country. -- LBG, GMA News
***
KAKAMMPI or Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino, Inc., is a community-based organization of families of overseas Filipino workers and migrant returnees. It was formed in 1983 to help in efforts to protect the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos and respond to the problems generated by overseas migration.
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