Migrant Watch

Exclusion of Party-List Election from Absentee Voting Bill Hit

Fifteen years after the first absentee voting bill was filed in Congress, the House of Representatives finally passed one -- House Bill 3570, allowing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to participate in national elections. The exclusion however of party-list election from the bill marred the passage of what could have been a landmark bill.

BY BULATLAT.COM

While the earlier approved Senate Bill 2104 allows for OFWs to vote for president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives, the last was conspicuously absent in the House version.

In separate statements, Bayan Muna and Migrante International, a global alliance of OFWs, both criticized the absence of party-list representation, saying that it marginalizes the overseas Filipino workers. They also hit what is called a sunset provision, which allows the Act to be effective only for the first election, which is the 2004 election. Afterwards, a new law is once again needed for the OFWs to exercise their right to vote.

Marginalized

Bayan Muna assailed the reasons given for the party-list exclusion, among them lack of resources, electoral fraud, and the party-list just being one chunk of Congress.

“Are we telling the members of the sector who contributes 8 billion dollars annually to our economy that we cannot afford to provide for a system that ensures their right to vote?  Are we telling them that it is okay for them to pay for the salaries of the members of Congress but they cannot elect their own representatives?” asked Bayan Muna.

The group also said that electoral fraud is being committed by the major and dominant political parties, “not the marginalized party list and certainly not the overseas Filipinos.”

It asserted “the party list system was created precisely because congressional district representation is not a sufficient system of representation in the current Philippine political context. The people want more representation, not less… the direction should be toward inclusion, not exclusion.”

On the issue that it is just a pilot test and the party list system may be included in later elections, Bayan Muna replied, “Representation of OFWs has long been denied...Each election without representation from overseas Filipinos means three years (equivalent to a single term) of denial and deprivation. If translated in monetary terms, that is equivalent to 24 billion dollars worth of remittances being spent by the Philippine government without just representation of the Filipinos abroad who contributed these.”

Who are OFWs

Tagged as the “modern-day heroes,” OFWs contribute an average of US$12 billion annual remittances to the Philippine economy and about P13 billion by way of state exactions.

Migrante International secretary general Poe Gratela believes that with these contributions, it is only appropriate that OFWs should have an active participation in the elections and in other Philippine affairs.

Migrante is also presently waging campaigns on other migrant issues. “Systematic crackdown of undocumented, inhumane treatment, forced deportation and exorbitant exactions are but a few of overseas Filipino’s woes,” Gratela stated. “Beyond the bills passage, the government should take heed of the OFWs’ demands for protection of their rights and welfare, especially now in the light of the equally terroristic U.S. anti-terror campaign.”

No budget?

Asia-Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) managing director Ramon Bultron criticized Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople’s statement on the high-cost of implementation of HB 3570. He said that as a lawmaker, Ople should have included the cost in the national budget.

“The Philippine government allots millions for its all-out war while it complains about the cost of ensuring our right to vote,” Bultron said.

Ople, in a conversation with Ambassador Ernesto Llamas of the Philippine Embassy in Singapore a few weeks ago, noted that an initial of $1.7 million would be needed for the conduct of the elections. He said that even at these conservative estimates of $1.7 million, the 60 embassies and 18 consulates would require a total of $132.6 million or P6.63 billion for the elections. Bulatlat.com

We want to know what you think of this article.