20,000 OFWs in HK register for absentee voting

HONG KONG – Almost 20,000 Filipinos here have registered for overseas absentee voting (OAV).

During the registration period from Nov. 2, 2011 to Oct. 31, 2012, the Philippine Consulate tallied a total of 19,733 new registrants. 

Added to the 2010 record of 95,355 registered voters, the latest figures meant that 70 percent or 115,088 of the 165,447 Filipinos in Hong Kong are taking part in the OAV, the Consulate reported the other night.

Consul General Noel Servigon welcomed the “good number” of new registrants for the May 2013 senatorial elections.

“Ideally, we wanted to have 100 percent registration. But considering the different limitations that we faced since the start of the registration, I think 70 percent is already a good number,” Servigon said in an interview Wednesday night.

“I don’t know about our ranking yet. But if there’s a ranking, I think it should be more accurate and proportional to the estimated number of Filipinos in a particular area. We can’t be compared with another post with more Filipino nationals,” he added.

Vice Consul Charles Macaspac said the registration tally was more than double the almost 9,000 record for the 2006 senatorial elections.

“We switch to the next phase. We are going to concentrate now on voters’ education, and at the same time ensuring that we translate the number of registrants to actual voter turnout as close to 100 percent of the 115,000 voters as possible,” Macaspac said.

As the top overseas post participating in the OAV in previous years, Hong Kong’s Filipino community faces the challenge of sustaining its active role in the elections.

In a recent meeting with Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman James Jimenez, community leaders raised various concerns such as the undelivered voters’ identification cards and outdated voters’ list.

Community leader and OAV advocate Daphne Kuok said the failure to disburse voter’s IDs has been a disappointment to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). 

She added that the Comelec has yet to provide an updated list of active overseas absentee voters, minus those who have returned home or moved to other countries.

Kuok also explained that the Hong Kong post requires a permanent Comelec representative to maintain a ”realistic data of active voters and boost the confidence of the people in the electoral system.”

“Hong Kong can be an experiment. Comelec can feel the pulse of the community,” Kuok said during the community meeting.

The Consul General supported the suggestion to appoint a permanent Comelec representative in Hong Kong.

“Having an election attaché with a regular budget and full program would help. Our work for OAV does not end after the Oct. 31 registration deadline,” Servigon said.

Jimenez said he would present the community’s concerns to the full Comelec bench.

He added that the Commission on OAV is still discussing the plan to re-implement the automated elections in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Jimenez said the poll body is eyeing the expansion of automated elections overseas to one post in Europe and another post in the Middle East.

He, however, admitted that the low OAV turnout worldwide over the past three elections had caused “sleepless nights” for the Comelec.

In 2010, only 26 percent of the almost 590,000 overseas absentee voters cast their votes. The actual voting percentage was lowest during the 2007 senatorial elections at only 16 percent. 

The highest rate was registered during the first OAV in 2004, as 64 percent of the almost 360,000 overseas absentee voters participated in the presidential elections.

“As much as possible, we want to maintain OAV. The commission thinks that OAV has not yet reached its full potential. The senatorial race can be decided with 10,000 votes. You can elect one senator who is an advocate of OFWs,” Jimenez said.