In charge of overseas Pinoys

Former senator and secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Heherson Alvarez is back in the news – as ardent supporter of Charter Change particularly through a Constituent Assembly, and now, officially, as head of the Commission on Overseas Filipinos to which he was appointed by President Macapagal-Arroyo early this year.

The past months have taken him to a number of the 142 countries where Filipinos live and work, his tasks including enticing millions of compatriots to register as absentee voters, to apply for dual citizenship, and to increase dollar remittances to the Philippines.

One of the first things he did, he told media persons at the Bulong-Pulungan sa Westin Philippine Plaza Tuesday, was to "study the phenomenon of remittances." He mounted an educational program to attract workers to increase money they’ve been sending home with a target of increasing remittances by US$10 billion in three to four years‚ time. Currently, the remittances are US$6.8-billion a year or about one-half of the national budget. He further emphasized that when this could be done, "one can imagine how much food, medicines and other amenities the added remittances can do for the country." Right, Mr. Honorable Alvarez, especially if the funds will really be placed and used where they belong.

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As to the number of workers who want to vote in Philippine elections while working abroad, Heherson said that only 800,000 have registered their intention – a number far short of the expected 1.8 million voters.

In addition to the Absentee Voting Law, there is the recently-passed Dual Citizenship Law that allows Filipinos who have acquired citizenship of another country to reacquire Philippine citizenship. Heherson said of the three million Filipinos who have become American citizens, 1.5 million will apply for dual citizenship, and of this, one-third will want to vote in Philippine elections.

The unexpectedly low number who have registered for absentee voting should not be a source of discouragement, said Heherson. There is the possibility of the "mañana" habit being at work. "Filipinos like to work at the last minute," he said. Under the law, they barely have a month to register to be allowed to vote. However, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Heherson are making representations with Comelec to extend that deadline.

Heherson did admit that a good number of Filipinos have been discouraged from participating in Philippine elections in view of their negative perceptions on what is going on here, such as widespread corruption, the (aborted) coups and the Pidal account.

Those who would vote, he said, will likely go for President Macapagal-Arroyo. Those in the United States and the Middle East like the President’s stance on the Iraq war, on her being with the "coalition of the willing."

Heherson said the President is suffering from a "wounded presidency." While she fared well in aborting the Oakwood mutineers in 24 hours, she is hurt by Sen. Ping Lacson’s charges of her husband’s reported money-laundering activities and possible infidelity. No presidential candidate, however, has undergone the trials she‚s been subjected to. "My advice for her is to sit back and look at these troubled times, and ask if she can have the stamina to overcome them." Heherson thinks she can. He thinks women voters will sympathize with her, as women voters in America sympathized with Hillary Clinton.

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