FIL-AMS and kababayans back home may share the same love for Filipino food and follow the same teleseryes on The Filipino Channel, but when it comes to their discernment process when voting for candidates in elections – they seem to live in different worlds.
Take the recently concluded midterm elections in the Philippines as an example.
The candidates who made it to the top 12 in the Philippines include: Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Nancy Binay, Edgardo Angara, Bam Aquino, Koko Pimentel, Antonio Trillanes, Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito, and Gringo Honasan.
Dick Gordon, Miguel Zubiri and Jackie Enrile were on the 13th, 14th, and 15th spots respectively.
Only the top six has been officially proclaimed, as of press time.
As our New York correspondent Don Tagala reported on Balitang America: If it were solely up to Filipino absentee voters in America, the top twelve candidates who will sit in the Philippine Senate, based on partial unofficial count would be Chiz Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Koko Pimentel, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Edgardo Angara, Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Antonio Trillanes, and Miguel Zubiri.
Most glaring difference in the line-up of winners is the victory of Senator-elect Nancy Binay, who placed 5th in the Philippines, but was at the bottom 20 in Filipino overseas voting in America.
Critics of Nancy Binay said she does not deserve to win, as her only passport to the position is her family name — being the daughter of Vice-President Jejomar Binay. Many contend that the vice-president’s daughter does not have the background and experience to run for Senator.
“I’ve been doing the on-the-job training for more than 20 years, with my mother, with my father, lalung-lalo na ngayon na naging vice-president na ‘yung father ko,” Binay said.
As ABS-CBN news reported, prior to her Senate bid, the 39-year-old worked as her father and mother’s personal assistant.
ABS-CBN news reported that she intends to enroll in the University of the Philippines’ (UP) National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) — a crash course for new legislators.
The one-week course includes topics like how to set up one’s office, payroll, staffing, budget, how a law is passed, what bills/issues can the participant focus on, roles of each committee, etc.
Binay is not the first elected inexperienced lawmaker. Congressman Manny Pacquiao would be the most popular example.
To quote TIME Magazine’s story on Philippine elections (published on May 13, 2013): “From Imelda Marcos to Manny Pacquiao, familiar names of Philippine political clans and celebrities dominated the ballots for Monday’s congressional and local elections…”
TIME quotes Ana Maria Tabunda (from independent pollster, Pulse Asia): “Most Filipinos are less concerned about the issue than with the benefits and patronage they can receive from particular candidates. Voters also often pick candidates with the most familiar surnames instead of those with the best records.”
Many Filipinos abroad, especially those who observe politics in the Philippines, couldn’t agree more.
“Nancy has no work experience other than working as her father’s assistant rode on the coat tails of her father to win the 5th slot in the Philippines. But Jojo Binay did not have coattails in the US, so she placed a distant 20th. In the 2010 vice presidential elections, Mar Roxas placed 1st, Bayani Fernandez 2nd, Loren Legarda third and Jojo Binay 4th,” said US Pinoys for Good Governance President Rodel Rodis, when I interviewed him on Balitang America.
When asked what Filipinos in America are concerned about when it comes to Philippine elections, Rodis said: “They are not concerned about getting any…They can’t be bribed. Their concern is who can do the job for the country as a whole..They’re concerned about personal integrity.”
“The issue of good governance is very uppermost in the minds of voters [living] abroad…the voters in the US. That’s why the candidates who won here in the US are generally people who have higher integrity quotient than those who eventually won in the Philippines,” Rodis added.
Despite the big number of Filipinos living abroad who are eligible to vote, however, only a few actually register to vote. An overwhelming majority of Filipinos abroad do not really exercise their right to suffrage as much as their community leaders hope they would.
In this May 13 midterm election, only 14,098 Filipinos voted in the US and Caribbean, out of the 93,229 registered voters in the US — a dismal voter turnout of 15 percent.
Rodis said the major obstacle to voter registration is a law that requires overseas Filipino voters to sign an affidavit that will signify their intent to return back home to the Philippines or face imprisonment for up to a year.
He said this discouraged a lot of Filipinos living abroad from registering to vote. Once that requirement is removed, he said voter registration and turn-out among overseas voters will become higher.
“But what would really make a big difference is internet voting, “ Rodis said. “For Filipinos to register you have to go to the Consulate and that means traveling long distances…for many people that is very difficult so we are pushing for internet voting.”
Rodis pointed out that there could be as much as six million new voters, who could participate in the election through internet voting. “That six million could decide who ever will win in the 2016 Presidential elections” if the obstacles to the OAV’s registration and voting process could be removed, Rodis said.
Could the problem be apathy? Atty. Rodel Rodis does not think so.
“If you look at how many people are subscribers to TFC (The Filipino Channel) you would see there is a great deal of interest.”
Whenever there is a disaster in the Philippines, Rodis said that overseas Filipinos are the first to come to the aid of their kababayans back home.
“So people [Filipinos abroad] are concerned.. they have relatives who are victims of whatever is the corruption and injustice there and so they would like to change that…because otherwise, they will be sending money in every disaster and every corruption..and so I don’t believe that apathy is a factor.”
Looking forward to a higher turnout of overseas voters in future elections, many consular officials who gathered at the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC believe that with a pending electronic online voting bill in the Philippine Congress, there is no reason why the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) should not explore this possibility, in time for the 2016 presidential elections.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
