MANILA, Philippines — Employees of business process outsourcing companies should also be entitled to absentee voting privileges ahead of the 2022 elections, presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo told the Commission on Elections Monday.
At her opening remarks during a meeting at Harold’s Hotel in Cebu City, the Vice President said that her office filed a petition before the Comelec to open voting centers and amend the Executive Order providing for absentee voting for certain sectors.
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"The main purpose of our filing is to make sure that our BPO employees are not disenfranchised because they might not be able to vote because of the nature of their work...considering that because of the work arrangements would be very difficult for them to wake up in the middle of the day to not just to be able to vote," she said in mixed Filipino and English.
"The problem is not only Cebu BPO employees, but all BPO employees all over the Philippines. So in Cebu I think there’s almost 200 thousand, am I correct? Almost 200 thousand BPO employees, but all over the Philippines it is about 1.2 million employees."
Robredo said that she worked on the petition alongside former Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña. The three have already identified three potential spots where voting centers for the benefit of BPO employees can be put up, namely Cebu Business Park, the Cebu Asiatown IT Park, and the Cebu Business Park in Brgy. Kasambagan.
As it currently stands, voting hours have been set by the Comelec from 6 a.m to 7 p.m., but BPO companies follow the schedules of their foreign clients.
Under Comelec Resolution No. 6637, "government officials and employees posted abroad to perform election duties on election day may also vote in absentia." Executive Order No. 157 also says that "any person who by reason of public functions and duties, is not in his/her place of registration on election day, may vote in the city/municipality where he/she is assigned on election day."
"OFWs abroad are allowed to do absentee voting, uniformed personnel, other government officials who do election duty," the Vice President also said Monday morning.
"Not just BPO employees, but all Filipinos who do the same kind of work that BPO people do will benefit from with the amendment of the Executive Order which will include them in the categorization that they should also be entitled to absentee voting privileges," she added.