Pagboto ng OFW via internet
SINSERONG pinasalamatan ni OFW Partlist Representative Marissa del Magsino si House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez dahil sa suportang ibinigay nito sa panukalang makaboto via Internet ang mga kababayang nagtatrabaho sa labas ng bansa.
Ang House Bill (HB) 10178 o panukalang Overseas Electronic Registration and Voting Act ay inaprubahan na sa ikalawang pagbasa.
Kalakip sa panukalang ito na palawakin ang ‘registration and voting methods’ para sa OFW. Kasama na rito ang ‘internet or electronic registration’ at pagboto sa pamamagitan ng anumang ‘available technologies’ na aprubado ng Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Ani Magsino: “The bills imminent enactment is a triumph for overseas voters, as it will provide them, particularly OFWs, an alternative, viable, convenient, and secure means to exercise their right of suffrage. This enables them to help shape the future of their families and their motherland.”
“Half the battle is won and I consider this a victory for our overseas voters… We expect this will likewise boost the efforts of our colleagues in the Senate to pass the counterpart bill,” sabi pa niya.
Sa kanyang sponsorship speech, sinabi ni Magsino na malaking hamon pa rin anc ‘low voter turnout’ tuwing eleksiyon.
“The dilemma is attributable to the considerable physical distance between the overseas voters’ workplaces or residences and the location of the Posts in their host countries, to the itinerant character of their employment, as in the case of Filipino seafarers, and on other restrictive personal circumstances of the overseas voters while at work,” sabat pa ni Magsino.
Ayon sa Comelec, sa 1.69 million registered overseas voters, kabilang ang OFWs, umaabot sa 600,000 o 35.5 percent ang aktuwal na nakaboto sa nakalipas na 2022 National and Local Elections.
Sinabi ni Magsino na malaking bagay na makaboto ang mga OFW upang maganit ang kanilang karapatan higit lalo sila ang tunay na makabagong bayani ng bansa.
