“Not only impractical but also a waste of government funds.”
So said John Leonard Monterona, a prominent overseas Filipino worker leader based in Riyadh in reaction to the proposal of senatorial candidate Susan Ople to the Commission on Elections to consider holding presidential debates abroad.
“As an idea, holding a presidential debate abroad is good, will raise awareness, and timely as the overseas absentee voting will begin on April 9, 2016, just a little more than a month from now. We recognized the need for the 1.2 million overseas absentee voters to be educated on their right of suffrage and to vote wisely based on platform of governance, integrity, and capability of the candidates, among other criteria,” said Monterona, however, adding that said event will be a waste of public money.
“Funds of the Comelec in holding presidential debate abroad and the expenses to be incurred by presidential candidates with their respective campaign teams will be better spent for the repatriation of the hundreds of stranded and undocumented OFWs in Saudi Arabia. We are putting forward this as a challenge to presidential bets,” he added.
Monterona also noted on the political restrictions imposed by the host government like in Saudi Arabia saying holding a presidential debate abroad faces lots of obstacles.
“In Saudi Arabia, for instance, the venue of the debate will be a major concern. Holding political exercise such as a presidential debate needs prior approval by the host government. I supposed the same requirement is needed from the Hong Kong government,” Monterona said.
Although admitting that a presidential debate can gather huge crowd of OFWs if it will be held in Hong Kong, Monterona said it will not get thousands of OFWs to attend if it will be held in Saudi Arabia.
“As a matter of fact, majority of the OAVs in Saudi Arabia are facing difficulties in casting their votes especially those working and living far from the Philippine Embassy and consulate buildings where precincts are usually located. Until now, we are demanding the setting up of mobile precincts that can easily be accessed by the OAVs to cast their votes starting from April 9 to May 9. We have not heard an affirmative reply from the Comelec and Department of Foreign Affairs Overseas Absentee Voting secretariat regarding the setting up of mobile precincts,” Monterona said.
The OFW leader, in the a statement, also maintained that the recent presidential debate was followed widely by OFWs worldwide via live streaming through social media platforms.
“We are quite sure that OFWs especially OAVs will also be following the upcoming 2nd and 3rd presidential debates,” he said.
Monterona however said that many OFWs expressed disappointment that contenders during the 1st presidential debate “failed to explain clearly their platform, not a single OFW issue has been discussed, or how the presidential contenders will end forced migration, or a comprehensive plan for local job generation with decent wages and benefits.”
“We hope that these will be tackled during the next presidential debates,” he said.