I have not been blogging for days now because we have a problem with our internet connection. I have requested my dear friend Ernie de la Salde, a Political Science Professor in University of Mindanao to temporarily blog for me.

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Not able to vote

There are more than 100,000 Filipino migrant workers who may not be able to cast their votes in the May 14 elections this year.

Here is the excerpt from Gmanews.tv:

“Florentino Tuason Jr., chairman of the Comelec Overseas Absentee Voting Committee (COAV), said the 100,000 are part of the first batch of 360,000 voters abroad who registered in the 2004 elections.

He said the 100,000 is 20 percent of some 500,000 OFWs who had registered for overseas absentee voting.

In 2006, there were about 138,813 new voters who enlisted under the overseas absentee voting, bringing to 504,000 the total number of absentee voters in this year’s May 14 elections.

“Many of them will not be able to cast their votes since they have either returned to the Philippines or have found work in other countries,” Tuason said

Tuason said the Overseas Absentee Voting Law decrees that OFWs who registered and voted in the 2004 elections and returned to the country could not cast their votes since their registration and precincts are abroad.

For OFWs to be able to vote, they must have filed a petition for the transfer of voter’s records with the Comelec local office.

On the other hand, those who moved to another country should have informed the COAV, he said.

Still, Tuason said the shipping of ballots and other election documents to foreign precincts, particularly in countries where voting would be through mail beginning April 14, was continuing.

He said the COAV has also designated 16 ports around the world where seafarers can drop their ballots.

To encourage a high voters’ turnout among the seamen, the committee allowed them to cast their ballots in countries where personal voting were taking place such as Greece, Hong Kong, China and most Middle East countries.

Tuason said documents already shipped include ballots, voter’s instruction manual, list of senatorial and party-list candidates and an inner and outer envelope with return stamp.”