Senate passes absentee voting bill

The Senate on Wednesday evening finally passed its version of the Absentee Voting Law on second reading after recalling the measure that was earlier approved by an opposition-dominated upper chamber in June.

Opposition Senator Edgardo Angara, the Bill's principal author, said: "We achieved a milestone because we were able to deliver on a constitutional promise for overseas Filipinos."

A similar Bill pending in the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, is expected to be passed before next Tuesday.

Once the House counterpart bill is passed, legislators from the Senate and the House will convene to pass a consolidated version of the measure which, when approved, will be signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo into law.

Earlier, Arroyo promised that she would sign the final version of the Absentee Voting Bill "within 24 hours" after it is passed by the senators and representatives.

Overseas Filipino groups had earlier expressed exasperation over lawmakers dragging their feet on the crucial Bill that will allow at least half of the estimated seven million Filipinos based abroad to vote during national elections back home.

Arroyo had certified the bill as among the priority measures of her administration as she plans to hold the first absentee voting abroad by the 2004 presidential elections.

Under Senate Bill 2104, all Filipinos abroad who are at least 18-years-old on the day of the election will be allowed to vote for the candidates for president, vice-president, senators and party-list representatives.

They will also be allowed to cast their votes in referendums and plebiscites on national issues. Overseas Filipinos may register as a voter by mail or personally with the embassy or consular office in their places of residence.

They may then vote also by mail or by personally casting their ballot at the nearest Philippine embassy or consular office.

The counting and canvassing of the votes will be done "on-site".

An election official assigned to that foreign country is to send the summary of results to Manila for proper tabulation.

Angara said there was much debate on the requirement of "physical presence" for voters who would be allowed to register by mail.

"The argument was that some impostor might be able to register because there is no physical presence," he noted.

The opposition leader also noted that it was "the request of overseas Filipino groups that the counting and canvassing of the votes be undertaken where they voted".

"This is their safeguard that the returns will not be tampered with," he said. A substantial portion, or about 1.6 million Filipinos abroad, do not posses proper working documents in their host countries.

Angara said that the Senate version of the absentee voting bill considers this. "This does not mean that once a Filipino is an undocumented alien in the host country, she will be denied the right to vote as a Philippine national," he stated.

Angara said that in the registration and casting of votes, "the Commission on Elections is not required to inquire into the status of the voter. In fact, the undocumented Filipino could even register and vote by mail," he observed.

Senator Joker Arroyo, the only upper chamber legislator who voted against the proposed law, said there are "flaws" in the bill that could turn it into "an instrument for cheating".

He questioned the impartiality of the ambassadors, some of whom are appointees and could remain loyal to their political patrons. "Malacanang (the presidential palace) is ominously quiet. It appoints the ambassadors, it appoints the officials," the senator said.

Last June, an opposition-dominated Senate passed the same measure only for it to be recalled by administration senators who posed legal questions over the passage of a critical bill.