House panels endorse amendment to overseas absentee voting law

Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV
Article posted February 26, 2008 - 11:06 PM

Two House committees endorsed for plenary debates on Tuesday a bill amending the 2003 overseas absentee voting law to extend to seven years the requirement for Filipino immigrants to execute an affidavit of intent to return to the Philippines before regaining their right to vote while abroad.

The committees on suffrage and electoral reforms and on foreign affairs dismissed a proposal removing the requirement altogether, and in stead, adopted through House Bill 2036 another provision that extends the three-year period to issue an Affidavit of Intent to Return imposed in the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 (Republic Act No. 9189) to seven years.

HB 2036 consolidated HB 2046 filed by Makati Rep Teodoro Locsin Jr and Cebu Rep Antonio Cuenco and HB 3209 authored by Akbayan partylist Rep Risa Hontiveros, Zamboanga City Rep Maria Isabelle Climaco, Valenzuela City Rep Rex Gatchalian, and Cagayan de Oro Rep Rufus Rodriguez.

HB 3209 seeks the deletion of the intent to return requirement, noting that the provision has discouraged many Filipinos overseas from participating in Philippine elections.

According to lawyer Byron Bucar, Hontiveros’ legislative officer, authors of HB 3209 will still pursue the deletion of Section 5(d) of RA 9189 which requires a registrant to execute an Affidavit of Intent to Return in order to vote for president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives in the Philippines.

Failure to return in the proscribed period forfeits the registrant’s chance to vote.

“Repealing the disqualifications in the overseas voting law will hopefully encourage more Filipinos abroad to register and vote," Bucar, who represented Hontiveros at the committee hearing, told GMANews.TV Tuesday evening.

Delete provision

Meanwhile, the Center for Migrants Advocacy, a non-governmental organization working for the welfare and interests of migrant workers, welcomed the adoption of the bill but expressed preference for the eventual deletion of the requirement.

Lawyer Henry Rojas, CMA legal counsel, said in a position paper submitted to the House panel that deliberated on the bill that the repeal of Section 5 (d) “allow Filipino citizens who have acquired permanent resident/immigrant status in another country to vote under RA 9189 without restrictions."

Rojas cited a Supreme Court ruling in the case Nicolas-Lewis, et al. v. Comelec (497 SCRA 649) which said that that dual citizens can vote under the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) law without the residence requirement.

This was one of the major reasons behind the very low turnout of registrants, which was at 504,000 out of more than eight million Filipinos overseas, for the 204 and 2007 elections.

The voter turn out was also very low at roughly 20 percent of the 504,000 registered OAVs in the May 2007 elections.

“If dual citizens can vote sans the residence requirement, why should the restriction on voting be applied to Filipino citizens who did not acquire foreign citizenship?" Rojas asked.

The lawyer also considered as 'impractical' the requirement of resuming actual physical residence in the Philippines not later than seven years upon approval of registration as an overseas voter.

“What does 'resumption of actual physical residence in the Philippines' mean? Will six months residence in the Philippines suffice?" he asked.

Meanwhile Bucar said that Commission on Elections commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer and former commissioner Florentino Tuazon were in full support of the repeal of Section 5(d) during the committee hearing on Tuesday.

He also reported that Locsin seemed to be open to the cancellation of Section 5(d) but opted to retain the disqualification anyway.

Bucar said that there could have been “more voices" defending the repeal of the disqualifications if all of HB 3209’s authors were there to air their positions.

According to Bucar, only Gatchalian was present in the joint public hearing by the House committees on suffrage and electoral reforms and on foreign affairs committee because the other lawmakers had to attend other hearings.