Game-changers an analysis on OFW voter experiences in presidential elections.

Abstract

Labor export has often played a huge part in the Philippines’ economy. Each year, the number of Filipinos turning to overseas employment as a means to provide for their families rise – with approximately 2.4 million Filipinos working abroad according to official data from the year 2015 by the Philippine Statistics Authority. With the large number of OFWs, it is understood that they play a big role in the Philippine elections –with their votes acting as a “game-changer” according to a number of highly-esteemed government officials (e.g. Department of Foreign Affairs executive Rafael Seguis). Despite this, the most oft-discussed topic regarding OFWs are remittances. This study intends to veer away from the economic aspect of OFWs and focus on their political participation. The study aims to study and understand how the experiences of overseas Filipino workers reflect in the numbers for voter turnout. The researcher surveyed a total of 67 OFWs to learn first-hand their situations are regarding the overseas absentee voting system. The mostly negative experiences of OFWs definitely show in the disparity of actual voters and registered voters, and also in the disparity of numbers between registered voters and the total number of overseas Filipino workers.