Election attracts
few FilipinosA rule requiring nationals
to return to the Philippines
is cited for the low registration
Less than 1 percent of eligible Filipinos in the islands have taken advantage of a new law allowing them to vote in the upcoming Philippines presidential election.
Out of 10,000 to 50,000 Filipinos living in Hawaii who are believed to be eligible, only about 100 residents had signed up to vote by yesterday afternoon, said Philippine Consul General Rolando Gregorio.
With a registration deadline of tomorrow, the numbers aren't expected to dramatically increase, he said.
A number of Philippine lawmakers thought a recently approved dual citizenship law, which went into effect on Sept. 17 and allows Filipino nationals in the United States to reacquire their Philippines citizenship, would boost the absentee voting numbers.
But it hasn't, Gregorio said.
Only about five Hawaii residents have signed up to regain their Philippine citizenship in order to vote in the election.
The disappointing turnout -- nationwide, say officials -- is attributed in large part to a provision in the absentee voting law that requires registrants to return to the Philippines within three years of the May election.
Those who registered for dual citizenship would bypass this provision.
But Filipinos living in Hawaii who are not U.S. citizens are concerned that they may not be able to fulfill the pledge to return, Gregorio said.
Others fear that the provision could threaten their visa status in the United States or hurt their chances of attaining American citizenship in the future.
Gregorio said voters who don't return to the Philippines within three years would be ineligible to vote in the 2010 election.
Perfecto Yasay, a former chairman of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission who is considering a run for the Philippine Senate in the May election, said the two new laws were part of a push to get more "politically mature" voters.
"It's the whole idea that Filipinos abroad are the most literate, the most educated ... that they're in the best position to choose leaders solely on the basis of their competence," Yasay said during a recent visit to Hawaii.
Before the recent absentee voting measure, only Filipino overseas contract workers were able to vote when outside of their country.
Filipino Community Center president Roland Casamina said he hasn't been encouraging eligible Filipino residents to register for the absentee vote because of the must-return provision.
He also doesn't know anyone who has signed up for the vote.
"They think we're stupid. If I'm going to sign something, knowing that I do not intend to go to the Philippines, it's almost an insult" to the country, he said.
Casamina and others also questioned the feasibility of a massive, international absentee voting project for a nation where votes are still hand-counted.
"How credible is it? We don't trust the elections there, how can we trust an election worldwide?" he said.
Belinda Aquino, director of the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii, said having absentee voting sign-ups only at Philippine consulates may also have contributed to the low turnout.
"If you're in California, and the nearest consulate is in San Francisco, you're not going to go down from Sacramento," she said.
Hawaii's only Philippine consulate is on Pali Highway in Nuuanu, a possible deterrent for eligible voters on the Neighbor Islands or even those in Leeward Oahu or on the North Shore, Gregorio said.
The deadline to register for the May 10, 2004, Philippines elections is tomorrow. Those who want to register for the elections and apply for dual citizenship should bring a birth certificate to the consulate on Pali Highway between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Despite the low interest, Gregorio said he expects the Philippine government will stick with absentee voting registration.
"This is our first experience in absentee voting," he said. "This is like an experimentation. We can make adjustments later."
