Last Saturday marked the voter registration deadline for the upcoming barangay elections, currently scheduled for October. Local Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials already announced no deadlines would be given, which, personally, makes no difference.
As discussed in previous columns, upon moving to the Philippines, after voting absentee in the 2010 presidential election, visited the local Comelec office at the first opportunity to register as a resident. Ventured out early in the morning to beat the rush and was met with disappointment when the dismissive window teller said, in order to register, first, a visit to the main Comelec office in Manila would be required (she even began drawing a map for how to get there) and, second, contact with the Philippine consulate in New York City was also a prerequisite – which she “expertly” explained, “Contact them and let me know what they say.”
Not sure if it was just a matter of somebody unwilling to do their job, if it was perhaps too early for them to function; or if that is just the custom. Given how complicated many things are when it comes to government processing, assuming the latter.
Following the impeachment and ouster of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, elections in the country are set to take place in just over a week, on May 9. On local Korean broadcasting networks, the National Election Commission (NEC) has been running advertisements informing Koreans who are currently abroad on the overseas voting process. The ads also note, overseas voters who happen to be in South Korea at the time of the elections are allowed to vote at domestic polling places.
The commercial talks about the distance between some families when one is overseas, saying, “Please deliver that heart through voting.” Towards the end, the ad also indicates, “If you return to Korea before the voting period, voting domestically is allowed.”
A stark contrast to the attitudes expressed by the local election authorities in Bacolod City.
Additionally, in South Korea, by virtue of being a Korean citizen, registration is automatic – it truly is seen as a civic duty.
Even after the initial voter registration at the Philippine consulate in New York City, the attendant said, upon beginning the registration process, “It is your first duty as a citizen to vote.” Went through the entire application process, took a picture, and gave fingerprint samples, and was told to wait. After a few months, there was no update. Made another visit and after searching for the registration, no record was found – did it all over again. After a while, an absentee ballot arrived but no voter ID card. Upon submitting the ballot, asked one of the staff about voter IDs and he said many of the staff did not even have them yet – there was a delay (considering that was before the 2010 presidential election, have never received a voter ID to this day).
Looking at the two systems, it would appear South Korea is making it as easy as possible for their citizens to vote, whereas the Philippines puts up as many hoops as possible to make it difficult to attain, what is believed to be, a basic right.
In the United States, registration is a very simple process, and one that does not require renewal every so often. Registration can be done through filing taxes, through the local Department of Motor Vehicles (Land Transportation Office), or done online with their local county. As a volunteer team leader for the George W. Bush reelection campaign in 2004, sent out online voter registrations just about every day, where, if interested, recipients could follow the prompts from emails and register through the political party.
Even after moving to the Philippines and registering for the 2016 US presidential election, it was an online process; between printing, signing, and scanning forms, it took about 15 minutes. After a short processing period, received a confirmation email indicating the absentee registration was complete; later, received a ballot via email, which was then submitted back to local county officials in New Jersey.
Beyond all the talk of altered voting machines and manipulated ballot boxes in nearly every election in the Philippines, another tactic implemented is voter suppression. By keeping the number of voters down, it makes the individual voter less influential and allows for the aforementioned tactics to be more effective.
Article V of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines states, “Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately preceding the election.”
The constitution makes a fairly straight-forward case on who is eligible to vote. However, put into action, as expected, government complicates the issue.
Personally, in this aspect, the situation is so convoluted, so much that in order to register in Bacolod City, a visit to Manila and a call to New York City are mandatory, government agencies themselves are creating disenfranchised voters and turning them away from their civic duty./WDJ