Innovating Philippine Elections: A Critical Study on the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 and its Impact on the Political Behavior of Overseas Filipinos

Abstract

The paper initially takes an analysis at the concept of political representation and defines a government as representative when the people are present and active in government action. Representation allows the citizens of a country to decide on and take part in the making of the fundamental laws of the land. Modern representative nations places a premium on the people having an active participation in the decision-making processes of the country. Direct participation is exemplified through the citizens being able to elect and choose the country’s top officials. The 1935 Philippine Constitution declares the country as a Representative Democracy and allocates power between the sovereign people and their government. The Philippines having such form of a Representative government empowers every Filipino with inherent political rights. These rights would include the right of suffrage, or the right to vote, which allows the citizens to choose and elect officials who they deem shall serve for their general welfare. However, this right of suffrage is not extended to Filipinos temporarily residing abroad. Though there is a provision in the 1987 Constitution providing qualified Filipinos abroad with a system of absentee-voting. it had taken 3 Congresses before RA 9189 or the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 was enacted to enable our kabuabayans abroad to choose the country’s top officials. For years, there had been a continued disfranchisement of the 7.4 million Filipinos overseas who have enormously contributed billions of dollars of remittances to the country’s GNP. The study would then take an examination on the history of absentee voting and how it evolved in the Philippines. Furthermore, it aims to know the perceptions of the Filipinos in general regarding the issue on whether absentee voting should be implemented by the government. The view of overseas Filipinos will also be probed to know their views on what motivated them to lobby for the passage of absentee voting in Congress, as well as their recommendations on the said process. To have a balanced view. proper authorities on the topic are consulted to have a clearer understanding of what absentee voting is all about. The implementation of absentee voting shall be largely affected by several issues, and significantly by the political behavior and viewpoint of overseas Filipinos whose call for representation is assumed to be answered by the enactment of RA 9189. Furthermore, the method of absentee voting is considered to be an innovation in Philippine elections. and would ultimately produce either a positive or an adverse impact on the country’s electoral process. It is imperative that all these factors be systematically examined in the context of absentee voting.