Land-based OFWs start voting today

The acid test begins.

The bulk of absentee voters will start casting their votes today as the landmark exercise commences for land-based Filipinos overseas. Absentee voting will continue until May 10, election day.

Out of the total 358,294 approved registered absentee voters, 355,992 are expected to cast their votes for top government posts in the country’s first-ever overseas absentee voting process.

Sea-based Filipinos were the first to participate in the absentee voting process, which started March 12, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

However, only 231 or around 10 percent of the total 2,302 registered seafarers cast their votes, according to the latest tally from Philippine diplomatic posts.

The Overseas Absentee Voting Act or Republic Act 9189 was enacted by President Arroyo in February last year.

Registered Filipino voters overseas will cast their votes only for national positions — president, vice president, 12 senators and a party-list group that is given representation in Congress.

Among the countries where a large number of overseas Filipinos are expected to vote are Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States.

The Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (OAVS) has repeatedly complained in the past that the voting process requires fine-tuning as several loopholes in the law were not addressed.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal questioned last year the consitutionality of several provisions in the absentee voting law before the Supreme Court.

The High Court upheld a provision allowing Filipino immigrants and permanent residents abroad to vote in the 2004 national elections as long as they fulfill certain conditions. But it agreed to a part of Macalintal’s petition questioning a provision that allows the legislative to review the rules on absentee voting.

The SC had ruled that by vesting itself with the powers to approve, review, amend and revise the implementing rules and regulations for RA 9189, Congress went beyond the scope of its constitutional authority.

Apart from the supposed deficiencies in RA 9189, the DFA had been hounded by problems in logistics as well as certain restrictions imposed by a number of foreign governments on the voting process.

It is also expected that a significant number of registered absentee voters may not get to cast their votes due to conflicts with their work schedule and the distance of traveling to embassies and consulate offices.

The OAVS and the DFA however noted that the absentee voting process is going through birth pains, assuring a better turnout in subsequent elections.