10% of registered expat Filipino voters cast ballots
Dubai: Absentee voting at the Philippine Consulate in Dubai is headed for a disappointing finish as the turnout for the month-long balloting for overseas electors hardly reached 10 per cent on the eve of election day.
Sources said the turnout has so far reached 2,845 and is not expected to dramatically jump at Monday's final day of polling.
The Consulate in Al Qusais hosts six precincts for 30.642 registered absentee voters in Dubai and the northern emirates. Election inspectors are counting the votes as of press time.
Officials barred the media from taking pictures and footages of the proceedings, citing an order signed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis.
Aside from the Consulate's proximity issues earlier reported by Gulf News,people interviewed by cited the inefficient voter education campaign which the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through its diplomatic officials, are supposed to implement and the perceived apathy of expatriate Filipinos in participating in the electoral process.
Jojo Dass, a journalist, said he would have registered and voted for this year's election had he known where the Consulate is when he relocated to Dubai from Saipan in 2008.
"I was a Dubai newbie when the voter's registration was in progress. I was looking for posters or handbills regarding the absentee voting around my community in Al Karama where many Filipinos live but I couldn't find any," he told Gulf News.
Robert Ramos, coordinator of the Filipino community in Dubai, said no one from the Consulate coordinated with them even as the voting was on its final stretch last week.
"The only announcement we got from the Consulate was a press release which was issued before the start of the voting last April 10," he said.
Vice-Consul Edwin Mendoza denied the allegations, saying they have been relaying announcements and reminding people to register and vote whenever they attend community events.
Silent dissent
Rex Bacarra, a professor at the American College, view the apparent lack of interest in the electoral process as a "silent dissent" among Filipino expatriates.
"Looking at the crop of candidates, they are the same faces masking old values and standards who have brought our country to where it is today," he said. "Filipinos did not leave the country because of greater opportunities abroad. They were shoved away by their own country because of the lack of opportunities and having experienced how it is to live in a country that is better governed, a sort of enlightenment occurs and they realize how appallingly selfish the so-called Filipino leaders are."
Albert Alba, former president of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in the UAE, said many expatriates have felt that politicians, politics and governance may not have anything to do with the socio-economic condition of their families back home.
"Filipino expats have come to realize that for their children to get access to quality education, eat three square meals a day, and have a decent place to live in rest solely on their hard work and not on any politician or government policy," he said.
Dass, who was a political reporter in Manila for close to 10 years before moving overseas, said while massive reforms have been made to strengthen the integrity of the country's electoral process, Filipinos still generally mistrust politicians and the people overseeing the elections.
"Back home, you're either naïve or looney if you believe in the Comelec," he said, adding that the vote-padding scandal in the 2004 elections that hounded President Arroyo throughout her term aggravated the eroded integrity of the electoral system.
Marie Jude Bergonia, who works for a Dubai hotel chain, once worked for Arroyo's political party in the 2001 elections. She packed her bags and moved overseas a year after the vote-padding scandal.
"It's not worth my time to vote because they'll surely rig the results when the votes get canvassed in Manila," she said. "Besides that, the right candidates do not stand a chance of winning."
Who did you vote for? Do you see the elections bringing change to the Philippines? What would you like to see improve in your country?
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