Loren urges COMELEC to extend registration of overseas voters

SEN. LOREN LEGARDA YESTERDAY URGED THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS TO EXTEND THE REGISTRATION OF FILIPINO VOTERS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES “SO AS TO EXTEND TO THEM THE PRIMARY RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.”

There are an estimated eight to ten million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and emigrants, including dual citizens, abroad. Under Philippine election laws, they are all entitled to vote.
“The right to vote is the primary right of every Filipino citizen or dual citizen,” Loren said. “It is the duty of the Comelec to provide them with the means to exercise that right as much as possible.”
Furthermore, according to Loren, the OFWs and Filipino emigrants are sending to the Philippines billions of dollars annually, keeping the Philippines afloat economically amidst a trouble sea of the global economic crisis.
“It is the least we can do to show our gratitude for their sacrifices and their continuing concern for our country despite their absence from our country,” declared Loren. “The government must not be seen to be abandoning them by failure to protect their rights as citizens and saviors of our country.”
Loren urged the Comelec to coordinate closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs in activating Philippine embassies, consulates and other offices in foreign countries to register Filipino citizens and dual citizens so that they can exercise their right of suffrage in the coming May 10 elections.
“The Comelec cannot just give excuses that it does not have enough time. It can undertake the registration in coordination with our foreign offices even while making preparations for the automated voting,” Loren declared.
Earlier, Comelec said it would pilot automated polls in Hong Kong and Singapore. These two places registered the highest turnout of overseas voters’ enlistment at 95,355 and 31,853, respectively.

Source: http://lorenlegarda.com.ph/news_070_Loren_urges_comelec_to_extend_registration_of_overseas_voters.php

Loren: ‘Failure of elections a real possibility’

SEN. LOREN LEGARDA TODAY WARNED OF A POSSIBLE FAILURE OF ELECTIONS IF THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT RELEASE ON TIME THE BUDGET FOR VOTERS’ EDUCATION.

The senator said that while the Commission of Elections is supposed to receive a total budget of between P110 million for voters’ education, less than P35 million is reported to have been released so far to the poll body by the Department of Budget and Management.

“If the Comelec is operating on a meager budget for voters’ education, then it is highly likely that voters will not be sufficiently informed on the mechanics of voting. The result would be total confusion on Election Day, which in turn would lead to a failure of elections,” Loren said.

Loren warned that if the government is deliberately withholding funds for voters’ education, “it may be doing so for a hidden political agenda, which is to declare a failure of elections that could allow it to remain in power beyond its mandated term, through emergency rule backed by the military.”

A failure of elections, Loren said, is “certain to result in political unrest that could even lead to a military take-over and the death of democracy in the country.”

Loren said she is “worried over the seemingly slow pace of voters’ education with a mere four months to go before the actual voting.”

The snail-paced voters’ education campaign, Loren said, “could be part of a sinister plot to make the May elections fail, and thereby keep the incumbent administration in power.”

Loren said that the Comelec should already be waging a pro-active campaign in tri-media to explain to the electorate the features of the automated election.

“While I can understand that the automated system is new and the Comelec is familiarizing itself with how to proceed with it on a nationwide scale, I find it rather odd that it seems to be taking its own sweet time in explaining the system to voters,” Loren said.

The senator said that the Comelec should by now be deploying personnel and resources to the provinces, especially in far-flung areas, to educate voters on the automated system of elections.