BY IME SORNITO, NYRAIKA DOMANAIS, and MA. THERESA LADIAO
ILOILO City – Overseas Filipinos, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), have expressed cautious reactions to the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) plan to implement online voting for the May 2025 midterm elections.
While many welcome the convenience, concerns about security and potential fraud remain.
Maria Rose Molo, a 29-year-old OFW from Miag-ao, Iloilo and working in Hong Kong for two years now, is pleased with the online voting option, finding it less of a hassle compared to in-person voting.
“I am very happy because it would be less inconvenient,” Molo said.
She previously only voted when in the Philippines and avoided voting while abroad due to the need to visit the Philippine Embassy.
Rema Jane Min, a 29-year-old OFW also from Miag-ao and working in Hong Kong for seven years, worries about the possibility of vote tampering.
“It’s hard to trust nowadays. What if there’s hacking? Where will our votes go?” she asked despite acknowledging its convenience.
Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco said online voting will be the primary method for overseas Filipinos in the 2025 midterm elections, except in countries with internet restrictions.
But mail-in and physical voting will still be implemented in around 17 posts across 12 countries, including the Philippine embassies and consulates in China, Myanmar, Turkey, Russia, Nigeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Libya.
Amalia Franco, a six-year OFW from Barangay Tabunacan, Miag-ao, Iloilo with experience in Saudi Arabia and Dubai (United Arab Emirates), supports online voting.
“Yes, it’s good that all OFWs can vote online,” Franco said.
Her busy schedule and the embassy’s distance have prevented her from voting for the past six years, she said.
Donna Mercine-Persak, living in Slovenia for two years, sees online voting as convenient but worries about securing the voting platform, especially given past data breaches.
“If they explain how it works, I will participate,” Mercine-Persak said.
The specific technology for the online voting system is not yet clear, but Comelec is considering a mobile application with identity authentication features.
“We assure you that the system being procured has authentication and enrolment features to confirm and audit registration, enrolment, casting, counting, and canvassing of votes,” Comelec’s Laudiangco said.
Ellen Pormillos from Bingawan, Iloilo and residing in The Netherlands for over a year now, supports online voting due to the inconvenience of traveling to the embassy there.
“I will vote if online voting is available. It’s more convenient,” Pormillos said.
She did not vote in the last elections because of the considerable distance of the Philippine embassy to her workplace and residence.
Ermalyn Molo, a 40-year-old OFW in Dubai for 15 years, is wary. “It looks good, but can it be easily hacked by those favoring their candidates?” she asked.
Molo said she has consistently voted, most recently in the May 2022 elections at the Philippine Consulate in Dubai.
Antonio De Gollo from Sitio Kalubihan, Barangay Barosbos, Carles, Iloilo, a 53-year-old OFW in the United Arab Emirates for 18 years now, supports online voting but also worries about system hacking, too.
“This is good as I always vote, but it might be hacked,” De Gollo said. His last vote cast was in the May 2022 elections.
Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia previously said online or internet voting would be used overseas during the 2025 midterm elections in a bid to increase voter turnout overseas.
According to Garcia, only 1.697 million Filipinos registered to vote in the past election and that only 40.59 percent actually voted despite the Comelec sinking some P500 million into 2022’s registration campaign.
“For the first time in our history, we will have internet voting. They (Filipinos overseas) can vote using only their devices. And so, in our opinion, there is no longer any justification for them not to register,” said Garcia.
This model is in addition to the two ways of voting currently implemented for Filipino voters abroad, which are in-person voting and voting by mail./PN
