Absentee voting law pushed

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said yesterday he and Senate President Franklin Drilon will push for the passage of a bill allowing overseas Filipinos to vote in Philippine elections.

On the second day of a two-day visit to Honolulu, Hawaii, De Venecia told a group of Filipinos that "overseas Filipinos, especially contract workers, can make a big difference in the choice of our national leaders."

"This is especially true with the advent of the Internet and the texting technology across the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Ocean," he said.

He said he and most of the members of the Sunshine Coalition will author the "absentee voting" bill in the House.

To be sure, the initiative is not new. Some members of previous Congresses had pushed for allowing overseas Filipinos to vote, but their proposals were rejected. Most lawmakers felt that absentee voting would just result in more election irregularities.

But De Venecia said he and his colleagues would install enough safeguards to prevent fraud.

Philippine diplomatic officials in Honolulu led by Consul General Rolando Gregorio promised to rally support for the measure among Filipinos in Hawaii.

De Venecia flew to Honolulu principally to meet with fund managers from Hawaii, Japan and the mainland United States to seek the creation of a $500-million Philippine Recovery Fund.

He said the fund would "act as a catalyst of Philippine economic recovery" and would be available to businesses that suffered from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The Speaker will fly back to Manila tomorrow. — Jess Diaz