Front Page (as of 4:42 AM)

5 ballots cast on first day of absentee voting in Netherlands


Last April 21 in China, Senior Accountant Roger Herrera sealed an envelope containing his ballot for the 2007 Philippine Senatorial and Partylist elections at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing, China, having traveled a 321 kilometers (200 miles) to exercise his right of suffrage.

Herrera took a six-hour bus ride to Beijing from Shanxi Province unmindful of the fact that in the Netherlands, only five overseas Filipino workers in the Netherlands cast their ballots last April 14, the opening day of overseas absentee voting for the mid term elections, ABS-CBN News reported.

The first two ballots came from Fritzy de Castro of Doordrecht and Josephine Franke of Deuringen, according to the Philippine Embassy at The Hague.

Another voter identified as Maridee Borja encouraged other OFWs to participate in the elections.

"’Pag gusto mong i-exercise ‘yung right mo, wala namang mahirap gawin (If you want to exercise your right, it won’t be hard to do," she said.

Borja, however, admitted that she only decided on the final list of her choice of candidates on the day she voted.

She said there is not enough information regarding the senatorial candidates.

This is the same reason why Mai-Mai Alanzano decided not to vote. "Wala akong kilala kung sino ang iboboto. Walang impormasyon kung sino mga candadates sa Pilipinas ngayon (I do not know who to vote. There is no information on who are the candidates in the Philippines)," she said.

Aside from the lack of background on the candidates’ identities, some of the OFWs in Netherlands are even unaware that there is an election going on.

"The problem is who disseminates the information. I know but COMELEC (Commission on Election) is not represented in Holland. Problema ng COMELEC ‘yun (It’s the COMELEC’s problem), one Filipino said.

Despite these problems, the Philippine Embassy in The Hague remains confident that voter’s turn out will be high by the time the voting closes on May 14.

With reports from DFA and Loui Galicia

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=74993