Respect the Constitutional rights of Global Filipinos INQ7.net
October 16, 2006
Statement of the Global Filipino Community
The Constitution guarantees full respect for human rights, among which suffrage is the centerpiece for global Filipinos.*
The Constitutional directive for Congress to provide a system for overseas absentee voting is a mandate for the full exercise, not a restriction of their suffrage. *
The existing Overseas Absentee Voting Law (OAVL) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations place severe restrictions and hardships on voter registration and voting processes.
The global Filipino community asks that the Legislature and Comelec enact measures to install convenient, secure voter registration and voting processes. Among these are: *
1. Eliminate the affidavit for immigrants to return, consistent with the spirit of the Supreme Court ruling on the residency requirement for dual citizens; 2. Voting by mail in all developed countries and all countries with developed mail system; * 3. Implement continuing and uninterrupted voter registration, with appropriate cut-off dates for inclusion in an election; 4. Develop and implement by the 2010 elections the electronic, Internet and cell phone-based voter registration and vote-casting systems (particularly important to seafarers who have largely been disenfranchised); and 5. Dismantle all other administrative restraints on the smooth exercise of the suffrage of global Filipinos.
Accordingly, the global Filipino community rejects House Bill No. 5329 in its present form. Its pervading spirit continues severe voter restrictions and hardships.
The global Filipino community urges the authors of House Bill No. 5329 to rewrite the bill in a manner consistent with measures that would install convenient, secure voter registration and voting processes.
Dismantle the constraints. Welcome global Filipinos into the mainstream!
Global Filipino Coalition National Federation of Filipino American Associations Global Filipino Forum Philippine News Global Filipinos –Australia Filipino Migrant Workers Group Global Filipinos – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Federation of Mindanao OFWs (FEDMOC Equal Rights Movement SAPI-OFW Group Construction Workers' Solidarity United Seamen’s Welfare Association of the Philippines, Inc. Bukluran ng Marinong Pinoy
