During yesterday's budget hearing
for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Senator Edgardo J. Angara proposed an
online voting system for Filipinos working and living abroad to make the
absentee voting process more convenient and effective.
According to figures from the
DFA, nearly 800,000 have signed up for overseas absentee voting (OAV) to
participate in the 2013 midterm elections, pushing them closer to their goal of
one million by October of this year.
However, Angara said that this
is still a small percentage of the millions of Filipinos and their families who
now live abroad.
"When we wrote the
Overseas Voting Law around five years ago, there was an estimated three million
Filipinos from around the world who were qualified. Three million potential
votes can make a big difference on the national elections. Now there are even
more potential voters, yet the turnout remains critically low due to practical
constraints," he lamented.
Angara explained that in North
America alone, there is an estimated 1.5 million potential voters. However, they
face logistical difficulties arising from the required physical appearance for
registration and voting. If the registration site is in another state, it will
take these people away from their jobs and homes just to vote.
The veteran legislator also
noted that the program is moving slowly despite the sufficient funding given
over the past years.
"We should improve the
overseas absentee voting program because right now the budget given does not
match the output. Around P200 million was allotted for the assistance to
overseas workers, yet we have less than a million registered voters and less
than 200,000 who actually vote.
"Moreover, P120 million of
that 2012 budget is still unspent. Perhaps we can channel the unspent 2012
allocation for the OFW assistance fund into establishing an e-voting system in
all the countries which are technologically capable. We can conduct online
registration and voting safely and securely for these Filipinos," proposed
Angara, vice-chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
Angara suggested an
inter-agency task force headed by the Oversight Committee on Overseas Voting in
the House of Representatives, together with the DFA and COMELEC, dedicated to
working out the mechanics of online registration and voting.
"We should seize this
opportunity to use modern technology to empower Filipinos who work hard abroad.
They should have a say in electing our leaders," he stressed.