Why no budget for RP poll enlistment drive?

INQUIRER.net
Posted date: May 26, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos in Hong Kong are wondering why there are limited promotional materials for overseas absentee voting in the former British colony.

In an e-mail to INQUIRER.net, Daphne Ceniza, who was among the advocates of voting rights for Filipinos overseas, said that when they inquired about this, they were told that the Philippine consulate general there has received only US$1,262 for OAV since the start of the registration period in February.

“We are alarmed when we were told that no budget was given to any post around the globe to hire additional staff for the implementation of OAV,” she said.

Pointing out that the Hong Kong consulate has a staff of 60 serving 150,000 constituents, she said, “It will never be able to implement OAV and at the same time cater to the consular needs of the community.”

Ceniza said she has also asked the Commission on Elections about this, but was told that there is still no budget for OAV for 2009.

“We have been told to inquire with the Department of Foreign Affairs for the budget. To me, this is a repeat of 2004 and 2007 when the buck is being passed around on who has the budget for OAV,” she said.

“One of the major reasons why many migrant Filipinos did not vote in 2007 is its distrust in our electoral process and government in general. The government's failure to allocate a budget for overseas absentee voting may be deemed as a reflection on the government's seriousness to allow overseas Filipinos to vote,” she lamented.

As of May 26, the number of OAV registrants is 84,631, with Hong Kong registering the biggest number of registrants at 8,623.