OFWs Dump Team Unity in Mock Polls,
Decry Irregularities in OAV Conduct
The results of the
recent global mock elections that dumped administration senatoriables
speak of the sentiments of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their
families: vote against Team Unity. More than being votes for the
opposition, “these are votes against Arroyo and her lackeys,” said Connie
Bragas-Regalado, Migrante International chairperson.
BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
Bulatlat
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Mock elections in Japan
(upper, extreme left),
Hong Kong (above),
and Korea (left).
PHOTOS COURTESY
OF MIGRANTE INTERNATIONAL |
The results of the
recent global mock elections that dumped administration senatoriables
speak of the sentiments of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their
families: vote against Team Unity.
Dubbed as “Pulso
ng OFWs, Pulso ng Pamilya: 2007 Mock Senatorial Elections,” the
internationally- coordinated senatorial mock election was organized by
Migrante International from April 8 to 15 in Canada, Japan, Australia, The
Netherlands, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and the Philippines. There were
2,145 ballots cast in these eight countries.
In the Philippines,
Migrante chapters in Manila and Quezon City held mock elections in their
communities. A “mobile polling station” was also roaming around the
Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA), and T.M. Kalaw in Manila where seafarer applicants
hang around.
Votes vs Arroyo
From those votes, the
Magic 12 was composed of eight candidates from the Genuine Opposition
(GO), two independents and only two from the administration’s Team Unity.
Top 12 |
Party |
Votes |
1.
Loren Legarda |
GO |
1,778 |
2.
Manuel Villar |
GO |
1,392 |
3.
Alan Peter Cayetano |
GO |
1,277 |
4.
Francis Escudero |
GO |
1,251 |
5.
Francisco Pangilinan |
IND |
1,186 |
6.
Benigno Aquino III |
GO |
981 |
7.
Ralph Recto |
TU |
956 |
8.
Sonia Roco |
GO |
908 |
9.
Gregorio Honasan |
IND |
775 |
10.
Nikki Coseteng |
GO |
745 |
11.
John Osmeña |
GO |
722 |
12.
Edgardo Angara |
TU |
670 |
More than being votes
for the opposition, “these are votes against Arroyo and her lackeys,” said
Connie Bragas-Regalado, Migrante International chairperson.
“Our OFW mock
election results reflect the general sentiment of the people against this
regime’s anti-migrant and anti-people policies,” she said.
Moreover, she said
the results are also a challenge for senatorial candidates to “genuinely
protect the rights and welfare of OFWs.”
The migrant leader
said that “Arroyo’s policy of intensifying the export of people in
exchange for remittances is resulting in a whole range of social costs and
abuses against OFWs and their families – thus, most candidates allied with
her were rejected soundly.”
Among the urgent
issues Bragas-Regalado cited were the new Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) Guidelines for Household Service Workers, the
excessive fees government charges migrant workers, alleged corruption at
the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the rise of human
rights violations against OFWs, especially women migrants.
Irregularities in the OAV
Bragas-Regalado also
called on OFWs to remain vigilant to ensure their votes are counted. She
also warned the Arroyo administration against moves to use the Overseas
Absentee Voting (OAV) polls to cheat in the elections, especially since
the OFW mock polls and surveys show opposition candidates dominating the
Magic 12.
Vigilance was called
for especially since alleged irregularities in the OAV polls have already
been monitored in Hong Kong, said Gabriela Women's Party (GWP)
secretary-general Cristina Palabay.
Palabay said they
have received reports that around 10 GWP pollwatchers wearing GWP
identification tags were prevented from entering the polling precinct in
Hong Kong. She added that two OFW voters were allegedly told they could
not bring their sample ballots inside the polling station.
In Rome, Italy,
Filipino group Umangat (Uplift) reported that the OAV failed to start on
April 14, Saturday, the start of the 30-day OAV period, because ballots
failed to arrive for OFW voters.
Migrante-Europe
meanwhile reported that in Geneva, Switzerland, ballots have not arrived
as of April 18, four days since the supposed start of the OAV.
Migrante said there
are about 820 overseas absentee voters in Switzerland and 2,300 in Italy.
Damaged OAV
integrity
Aside from the
disenfranchisement, GWP nominee and OFW leader Flora Belinan said that
these delays “already deprive our OFWs of their right to vote.”
"For the Arroyo
administration, OFWs have the right to suffer but not of suffrage,” she
said. “No wonder, her endorsement as far as OFWs are concerned is a kiss
of political death."
According to Belinan,
the number of absentee voters is already low allegedly because of the
“government's poor voters’ information and education drive.” And now, she
said that the “government is set to deprive these OFW voters of their
right to vote due to these unexplained delays."
The low voters’ turn
out, the delays, and the political harassment of GWP, particular in Hong
Kong, Belinan said, blight the integrity of the OAV.
With these, Belinan
urged OFWs and their families to guard their votes from casting to
counting, saying that "the tentacles of the administation's machinery for
cheating certainly extend to voting centers abroad.” Bulatlat
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