A migrant group in the Middle East Monday urged over 500,000 overseas absentee voters worldwide to cast their vote promptly starting April 10 and elect leaders capable of effecting social change.

In a statement, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said the absentee voters need not wait until May 10 to participate in the polls.

He also said the periodic electoral exercise via absentee voting is not only seen as an opportunity for Filipinos working and living to elect good, principled, and responsible leaders but is also a chance to raise Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) political consciousness.

“This exercise will also eventually participate in effecting changes in the political system through active participation in the democratic processes and institutions,” he said, adding that “OFWs are not only economic contributors but should also be active participants in a creating a political system that is responsive to the needs, problems, issues, and concerns of the whole nation.”

However, Monterona observed that most organized OFW groups like theirs are not “dreaming” that the results of the May polls “would easily pave way for desirable political changes given that the nature of electoral exercise in the country is still dominated by the ruling classes of landlords and bureaucrats.”
He said, “the May polls are a mixture of threat and opportunity. We are wary of threats such as political violence and failure of elections but we are enthusiastic to exercise our right to suffrage and to also maximize the opportunity to choose responsible and good leaders for our country.”

But Monterona said that that the implementation of overseas absentee voting system is relatively young and its significance should be further disseminated among migrant workers. Monterona said that it worries their group that out of 10 million OFWs, over 500,000 of them are registered absentee voters. “It is barely five percent of the total foreign-based Filipinos living and working around the world. The numbers are dismal,” he said.

Monterona added that not all registered absentee voters could vote as poll precincts in embassies and in consulates might be far from voters’ homes. “’Yung iba hindi na lang boboto para makatipid sa pamasahe. Meron din naman na ‘di papayagan ng amo na mag-absent from their work. (Some would rather not go to poll precincts just to save money. Others won’t be allowed by their employers to take a leave from work.) It is sad but these are the reasons why quite a number of Filipinos overseas would not or could not vote,” he said.

He said, “but since the polls will elect a new President, I think fellow absentee voters would be excited and go the extra mile to cast their votes especially that the fight to the top among presidential candidates will be a close one.”