Several years ago, Filipino American groups in the United States, including Washington D.C., launched a campaign to empower overseas Filipinos. They even dispatched “lobbyists” to contact members of Congress and urge them to implement a provision in the 1987 Constitution giving overseas Filipinos the right to vote in Philippine elections.

*** Several years ago, the Philippine Congress did so. It not only approved the overseas voting act; it allowed Filipino nationals who have already become citizens of foreign countries to acquire dual citizenship and to vote.

*** In 2004, the Act was implemented in the presidential election. But only a few took advantage of it. Congress then went back to the drawing boards and eased the tough rules. The Commission on Elections redrafted the procedure to make it easier to vote, including voting by mail.

*** Although half a million overseas Filipinos registered, less than one half actually voted. Principal complaint was over the confusing procedure drawn up by the Comelec to vote by mail. Many said the procedure of voting and the confusing instructions were also responsible for many voided votes. Many are now demanding that the procedure be simplified and that the Comelec launch an intensive information campaign to guide the voters.

*** This year, the Comelec spent millions of pesos to ensure that the voting and canvassing of votes would be honest and fraud-proof. For instance, in the US the consuls generals in New York, Honolulu, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angles had to come to Washington D.C. personally to deliver the votes for the final canvassing. Comelec officials, including the chairman Benjamin Abalos, flew to Honolulu and San Francisco to address the voters. But there was no money allotted for an information campaign utilizing the hundreds of Filipino American newspapers and TV and radio stations in the United States and in other countries.

*** Although there were half a million who registered around the world, only less than one half actually voted. In Washington D.C., out of 2,422 registered voters under the embassy’s area of responsibility, only 738 actually voted. Of the 2,422 ballots mailed by the Comelec to registered voters living in the area, only 739 were returned either by post or in person. Many votes were voided or ballots undelivered because of change of address.

*** Consul General Domingo Nolasco of the Philippine embassy said it was ironic that Filipino-Americans who campaigned enthusiastically for the passage in 2003 of a dual citizenship law so that they could reacquire their Philippine citizenship did not show the same enthusiasm in voting.

*** The fault, we believe, does not lie solely on the voters. The bulk of the blame is on the doorstep of the Comelec!