Recently in Absentee Vote Category

YESTERDAY, I managed to extricate myself from a business lunch meeting so that I can cast my vote. I arrived at the Philippine Embassy (Singapore) at around 2:15 p.m., only to be told that I was not on the list of overseas absentee vote rs (OAVs) with returned ballots. I registered as an OAV in 2005, and my name was on the 2005 OAV list, I told th e poor, hapless embassy staff, who had to endure the wrath of a number of OAVs like me because they were miraculously "deleted" by the Commission on Elections from the master list. I told her in no uncertain terms that I am here to do my duty for my country and I will not leave until I cast my vote, so please be ki nd enough to give me a ballot quick! While she went off to find a ballot for me, most of the OAVs that were waiting outside were lamenting our situation. One woman said the government is getting worse, and as usual things are topsy-turvy. We were all in agreement that somet hing must be done to save the Philippines from this present administration, who se cheating tactics has crossed foreign shores. The "mailing of ballots" system that they implemented was mired with discrepanc ies. I do not understand which list the Comelec used when they sent out the bal lots to OAVs in Singapore. They certainly never used the 2005 list, because I n ever got my voterâs kit. After a while, the embassy staff managed to give me a kit that was destined for a seafarer (I work as a journalist here in Singapore). Immediately I sat down to write my choices. Halfway through writing my choices, I noticed that the emb assy actually dispensed of the "shields" that provided privacy for the voters, and that some voters actually sat together in one or two tables and dictated th eir choices to one another. In short, nagkokopyahan! And I have to be blunt; the choices are mostly from the GO. For that brief mome nt, I realized that marami na palang OFW na mulat na sa mga nangya yari sa bansa, and that in their own way, they took time out from their wo rk just to vote (kahit wala sa listahan), because they care for the fu ture of the country. Sana mabasa ito ng mga mananalo sa halalan, at sana ma-realize nila that ma laki ang utang nila sa taong bayan, at obligasyon nilang bayaran ang utang na i to⦠with interest.

THE SECOND week of the ongoing Overseas Absentee Voting ended t his evening. While there was a slight increase in the number of voters who cast their votes this week compared to last [week] at the embassy here in Riyadh, s till it is much lower than we expected. But the sight of three company buses tr ansporting voters to the embassy was a good sign, and we hope the remaining two weeks will really see more company buses bringing in more voters.

Ask anybody, especially government officials, what they think is the reason why the turnout of voters has been very low, [and] the most common answers you wil l get are that: many overseas Filipinos think that since this election is not a presidential election it is not so important; many think that it is useless to cast their votes because these will not be counted anyway; and many say "n akakatamad naman kasing pumunta sa embassy." At one point I did believe that maybe those are the valid reasons. But this aft ernoon, I realized that those earlier statements may not be the reasons at all. .. In relation to our Go Out and Vote campaign here in Riyadh, we designed a campa ign ad that centered on why we should cast our votes. The message was conveyed by the following lines that were printed on the poster/flyer:

Ipaabot ang nagkak aisang tinig Gamitin ang karapatang marini g Ang Boto mo, pahalagahan mo.< /strong> We had the poster designed by a young OFW for free, but the printing of the fou r-color poster cost us SR 2.50 each for the A4 size, and SR 50 for the A3 size. By Thursday night we had the number of posters we needed ready. This morning we started placing those posters in areas around Riyadh where many Filipinos usually hang out especially during weekends. In one supermarket the Filipino cashier commented: "Nag-umpisa na pala ang botohan?" In one r estaurant one employee asked, "Taga-Comelec po kayo?," while a jolly barker in the fastfood center said, "Huwag kayong magalala, kabayan , akong bahala dyan," referring to the poster that we stuck on a suggestio n box. When I heard the supermarket cashier say, "nag-umpisa na pala ang botohan," I asked myself how many Filipinos like him are not aware that the oversea s absentee voting period already started two weeks ago; maybe a hundred, or ma ybe a couple of thousands? Could this not be the main reason why there is a low turnout of voters? What really made me smile was the question from the waiter at the Thai restaura nt. When asked, "taga-Comelec po kayo?" we simply said we are not from Comelec, but are from various OFW organizations. But he's got a point . Bakit nga ba kami ang nagdidikit ng mga OAV posters na yon at hi ndi ang mga taga Political section ng embahada? [Comelec] Commissioner [Florentino] Tuason [Jr., chairman of the Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting,] proudly announced during the OAV Forum at Intramuros last March that the OAV cost per voter this year compared to that of 2004 is v ery very much lower. That of course was great for the budget department. But gi ven the experience of 2004, the Comelec could have spent some amount on informa tion materials like posters and flyers. If posters were sent to the Posts a mon th before the start of the voting period, and the Posts were able to distribute these to the major companies and community organizations, as well as display s ome in areas where Filipinos usually hang out -- like what we did today, chance s are the turnout could be better than what we are witnessing now.

But if Comelec cannot even send postal voting materials and vot ers ID on time, can we expect them to be able to think of those little, yet ver y important, things?

It [makes my heart] bleed when I think of how little the government cares about us who are sacrificing to be away from home just to [let] the Philippines surv ive. Perhaps when the bleeding stops, time will have been ripe. But for now, today is just another day.