Help fund absentee voting bill: solon

Rep. Willie Buyson Villarama (Aksyon), (2nd dist., Bulacan) called on all lawmakers and Cabinet members to donate part of their countrywide development funds or department budget to fund the Absentee Voting Bill.

"Since the General Appropriations Act for the year 2003 does not provide funds for the Absentee Voting Bill, members of Congress and the Cabinet can realign their public works funds or their budget to finance the voting measure," Rep. Villarama said.

Villarama recently proposed the formation of a fullfledged political party to promote the interests of the country’s seven million overseas workers, a powerful economic community credited for buoying the Philippine economy because of its consistently huge dollar remittances to the country.

"Our OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) have been sending an average of $7 billion annually to the country in the past five years, yet they are often taken for granted by the political establishment," Villarama said.

If the reason for the failure to pass the bill is lack of funds, as many congressmen claim, the obvious solution is either to provide funds under the appropriations act and, failing that, for lawmakers to donate part of their development funds and for Cabinet ministers to realign their departmental budgets, the former chief of staff to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said.

The Commission on Elections has estimated that preparations for, and implementation of, the overseas voting bill would require at least P2 billion.

President Arroyo has certified the bill as urgent and vital to the nation’s interests, Villarama said.

Now Messrs. De Venecia and Drilon must show similar political will, he added.

The Bulacan solon said most OFWs are ‘angry and will not take it anymore’ because Congress has wasted 14 years to pass the voting bill which was mandated by the 1987 Constitution.

Villarama observed previous Congresses have cited many excuses for not acting on the measure. These include potential cheating by Philippine diplomatic posts that will help the Comelec conduct the elections, and the political maturity of OFWs.

These class-action lawsuits will be your EDSA!  You cannot remain the rich blood supply that helps sustain the life of a parasite government.  Your numbers and income are your voice, and your class-action lawsuits will be your tool to move and correct a constitutional wrong.  The democratic process will prevail over these governmental parasites.

Congress resumes today, will focus on 4 big bills

By Sammy Martin, Correspondent, Monday, September 30, 2002

CONGRESS will focus on four "crucial" bills sponsored by Malacañang when session resumes today.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Loren Legarda, who is tasked to calendar important bills and resolutions, said four top bills are the Special Purpose Asset Vehicle (SPAV) which is still on the second reading; National Transmission Corp. (Transco); absentee voting bill and the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

But Sen. Francis Pangi-linan said he will seek the help of his colleagues to consider the passage of the bill on the exemption of the judiciary from the salary standardization law and the bill allowing the Ombudsman to deputize private lawyers in some of its cases.

"I hope my colleagues will support these bills aimed at promoting justice. I expect to deliberate on these bills before we focus on our next year’s budget. I am optimistic that there will be less politicking this time. What we need now is cooperation from both camps," Pangilinan said via text.

Absentee voting, SPAV bills top Congress agenda

By BUTCH FERNANDEZ and JODEAL CADACIO TODAY Reporters Monday, September 30, 2002 0:52:6 a.m.

The Senate resumes regular session Monday to finally pass the long-delayed absentee voting bill and the controversial Special Purpose Asset Vehicle (SPAV) bill.

Both measures are high on the list of priority bills earlier drawn up by a joint panel of Malacañang officials and Congress leaders for early passage, but got snagged in floor debates between administration and opposition senators.

The House of Representatives will, likewise, resume debates on the absentee voting bill and the Malacañang-proposed P804.2-billion 2002 national budget.

Senate President Franklin Drilon assured the approval of the absentee voting bill in time to allow qualified Filipinos overseas to vote in the 2004 presidential elections.

The bill was already passed on third reading and transmitted to the House by opposition senators who seized control of the Senate in June but it was recalled by majority senators who wanted to put additional safeguards to prevent possible fraud in the absentee voting process involving an estimated seven million votes.

The House majority leader, Neptali Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City, said the ruling coalition will tackle another crack at passing the absentee voting bill, which is being opposed by minority congressmen.

The chamber was set to pass the bill on second reading last month, but the leadership did not force the issue after the opposition led by Minority Leader Carlos Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya moved to have the bill returned to the committee level.

Lakas Rep. Jose Apolinario Lozada Jr. of Negros Occidental, one of the principal authors of the bill, said there is no need to return the bill to the committee level because the measure had gone through extensive deliberations in the committee and plenary levels.

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Gilbert Teodoro of Tarlac said Congress owes it to the more than seven million overseas Filipino workers to pass the bill.

The House Committee on Appropriations will also resume its marathon hearings on the proposed 2002 national budget on Thursday.

Lakas Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur, chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, said President Arroyo’s finance managers would be questioned by lawmakers over the budget proposal.

The House justice committee on the other hand will resume deliberation on the impeachment complaint filed against Elections Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco.

The justice committee is also scheduled to discuss the extradition case of Independent Rep. Mark Jimenez of Manila after the Supreme Court upheld the arrest warrant for the congressman, who is facing criminal charges in the United States.

Palace officials are also pushing senators to rush the approval of the franchise of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) to pave way for the privatization of the P2-billion transmission system of the National Power Corp.

The Transco franchise bill, however, is meeting stiff opposition among members of the Senate public services committee chaired by Sen. Joker Arroyo, with senators insisting the winning concessionaire or buyer of the transmission system should go back to the House to get a new franchise.

Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the chamber cannot rush approval of the Transco franchise bill because other public services committee members, including Sen. John Osmeña, have misgivings over the bill approved by the House.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES | Tuesday, October 1, 2002

Opposition senators yesterday threatened to bloc the administration’s priority bills — particularly the Special Purpose Asset Vehicle (SPAV) bill and the legislative franchise of the National Transmission Co. (Transco).

That is, unless a bill empowering seven million overseas Filipinos to vote in the 2004 national elections is passed on final reading.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, president of the opposition party Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Struggle of the Democratic Filipino, which is aligned with former president Joseph E. Estrada), said the opposition is asking the Senate leadership to give top priority to the absentee voting bill.

He said the measure had already been passed on final reading during the opposition’s June 3-6 session. But it was recalled upon the "request" of the majority.

Giving in to the opposition’s "hard line" position, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said interpellation on both the absentee voting and the SPAV bills would be completed in a week.

Congress has less than a month before it goes on another two-week recess.

"We’re going to find solution to the different provisions of the SPAV which we would discuss in small caucuses," Mr. Drilon said.

But he declined to elaborate whether this would include removing borrower-friendly provisions of the bill which the opposition wants deleted.

The administration bloc has the numbers to push for the approval of the Malacañan presidential palace’s priority bills.

"We have come to an agreement in the majority, and I am certain that with the proposals that we will make, there can be an agreement of the entire Senate," Mr. Drilon said.

Apart from the pro-borrower provisions, opposition senator Sergio Osmeña III said another contentious issue in the House-approved version of the SPAV bill is the provision granting real estate developers a five-year income tax holiday. He said there is no reason why they should be freed from paying income taxes.

The SPAV bill would also grant banks a seven-year period to book their losses against gross income on a staggered basis, while slowly recapturing their capital.

"There’s no chance of passing it (SPAV bill) by next week," Mr. Osmeña said.

Meanwhile, a talk that has been lingering in the halls of the upper chamber for months is now reflected in the official transcript of the Senate.

This was after the Senate opposition bloc tagged administration senator Manuel Villar as the main "beneficiary" of the SPAV bill under its present form — with alleged pro-borrower provisions exist.

Mr. Villar, a former real estate developer, was not in the session when Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. raised the allegation, prompting Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda-Leviste to defer deliberation on the priority bill.

Meanwhile, Senator Ralph Recto, chairman of the ways and means committee, said Mr. Villar has withdrawn his opposition to the bill.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES | Thursday, October 10, 2002

The Senate was expected to pass on third and final reading last night the Absentee Voting bill which would allow some seven million Filipinos overseas to vote in the coming 2004 national elections.

As of seven in the evening (7:00 PM), the upper chamber was yet to complete individual amendments to the proposal — the last step towards the bill’s passage.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes and laws and sponsor of the bill, said at least two million Filipinos worldwide are expected to register and vote in the coming 2004 elections where the measure would be pilot tested.

The figure, while less than a third of total Filipinos overseas, is enough to make or break a presidential candidate.

Estimates show the government would need anywhere from 500 million to 1 billion Philippine pesos (US$9.741 to 18.943 million at PhP52.79=$1) to implement the suffrage measure.

Bulk of the budget would go to travel expenses of lawyers and officials of the Commission on Election (Comelec) who would conduct the election overseas.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES | Friday-Saturday, October 11-12, 2002

7M Filipinos abroad to vote with passage of landmark law

After 15 years of debate, the Philippines is set to adopt a law making seven million Filipinos living and working abroad eligible to vote in their country's legislative and presidential elections.

Their new right of suffrage -- termed "the missing middle class vote" -- is expected to have a significant impact in the next presidential elections in 2004, analysts said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was catapulted to power in January 2001 after a military-led revolt overthrew ex-popular movie star Joseph Estrada, is expected to face a tough challenge in the polls.

The Absentee Voting Bill received an overwhelming 14-1 vote as it cleared the penultimate hurdle in the powerful Senate late Wednesday.

"We have just reached a milestone, delivering on a constitutional promise for overseas Filipinos," declared opposition Senator Edgardo Angara, principal author and sponsor of the bill.

DFA Secretary Blas Ople had said the leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives agreed to pass the bill, certified as urgent by Ms. Arroyo, before Oct. 25 preceding the next recess of Congress.

Once the bill is passed by the two chambers, a bicameral panel will be set up to reconcile "disagreeing" provisions before the independent Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Foreign Affairs jointly formulate voting rules and regulations, Ople said.

The Philippine constitution 15 years ago mandated that overseas Filipinos be allowed to vote in elections in their homeland but administrative and legislative bottlenecks had delayed its implementation.

There are about three million registered overseas Filipino workers, more than two million permanent residents and 1.6 million undocumented Filipino workers in foreign countries.

Overseas Filipinos contribute a whopping eight billion dollars to their impoverished homeland every year through remittances to their families. Ms. Arroyo terms their money "our biggest foreign investment."

"They are going to be powerful force in the political process now as their huge numbers can make or break a presidency," Rizal Buendia, political science head of the local De La Salle University, told AFP.

"I see this as a major policy reform," he said. "It may be the beginning of a change for us to produce more good and capable-of-governing candidates."

Senator Loren Legarda described Filipinos abroad as "the missing middle class vote in Philippine politics that can change the face of our democracy."

Augusto Syjuco, a legislator at the House of Representatives, said the so-called absentee voting process "is a cleansing vote because it can't be bought, coerced or easily influenced by media hype. We need to allow credible, competent, honest, dedicated and deserving candidates to be elected into office."

But Joker Arroyo, the only senator who voted against the bill, cautioned that a proposal allowing mail registration of the overseas Filipino voters "could make the law an instrument for cheating."

The Senate wants all Filipino citizens abroad to vote but the House of representatives argues that the privilege should be limited to the holders of valid passports and excluding permanent residents "who have already turned their back on their native country."

Under the new law, the overseas Filipinos will be voting largely from the Middle East, Europe, Southeast and Northeast Asia, North and West Africa, the United States, Canada and Australia.

House of Representatives Speaker Jose de Venecia said Congress had agreed to a budget of one billion pesos ($19.2 million) for implementing the country's first-ever overseas balloting.

It needs to be re-emphasized, like a ubiquitous broken record, that it is not the job or inkling of ANY one Senator, Congressman, or Government official to question the voting intentions of any legal Filipino voter, especially the impending validity of the Overseas Foreign Worker (OFW), or absentee, voter. The paramount objective of all sectors of The Philippine government must be the correction of a constitutional wrong, and once and for all legalize the absentee voting bill without any contemptible dissention or delay! The Philippine government’s generalized concern of overseas vote tampering is deeply rooted in their fifteen-year experience of home-grown corruption! The criminal profits of local vote miss-tabulation cannot be parlayed to the absentee voter, as they have never been afforded the dirty politics of domestic existence. The crimes of the many cannot be reflected unto the innocence of the few.

After the government corrects its 15-year illegal defense and implementation of the Philippine Constitution, it must then institute new laws for standards of practice and strict penalties for vote tampering at all levels. The voter’s right to vote and select their candidates or issues is a guarded sanctity of their democratic existence. Any foreign influence that may affect the outcome of their choices must be addressed by government exclusive of a voter’s right to vote.

What happens to their legal vote after it is mailed in or inserted into the tabulation box and posted as final result of the voting poll is where the period of corruption occurs!!! That vulnerable period is where the government must target and implement new standards of process, safety, and result.