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| Printout of the election results shown to watchers and media at the Voters Center |
Senatorial candidates handpicked by detained former President Rodrigo R. Duterte swept the overseas election among Filipinos in Hong Kong and Macau, results published earlier today by the consulates in both special administrative regions of China show.
According to the advisory, the total number of
registered voters for both cities was 94,295 (more than 83,000 of them are in
Hong Kong). Of these, 31,637 voters cast their ballots, for a total turnout of
33.55%
The 10 candidates known to their followers as “Duter10”
occupied the top slots in the ballot, with the remaining two going to former
senators Gringo Honasan who ran as an independent; and Tito Sotto, who was in
the administration ticket.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Incumbent senator Bong Go led the winning candidates,
followed closely by Bato dela Rosa and Rodante Marcoleta.
For the party-list vote, Duterte Youth, which was
largely carried by Duterte supporters, was a runaway leader; followed by CIBAC,
which is aligned with the Jesus is Lord Church which has a sizeable following
in Hong Kong; then EPANAW Sambayanan, whose first nominee is Lorraine Badoy, a
staunch Duterte ally.
Nearly the same result was obtained in several posts
in the Middle East like Kuwait, where Go, Dela Rosa and Marcoleta emerged in
the top three.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
But for their two additional choices, Filipinos in
Kuwait went with Honasan and re-electionist Imee Marcos.
Filipinos in Singapore, however, dropped Quiboloy
from the magic circle, preferring to
give the three last remaining spots to opposition candidates Bam Aquino and
Francis Pangilinan, followed by Lacson.
The results showed a far different mix in places where
there are fewer overseas contract workers, like in Los Angeles City, where
Aquino and Pangilinan topped the list, followed by Heidi Mendoza, an independent
candidate aligned with the two.
Go was on fourth slot, followed by Marcoleta, dela
Rosa, another independent candidate Luke Espiritu, and then Lacson, Rodriguez,
Bondoc, and Makabayan candidates Teddy Casino and France Castro.
In Australia, nearly the same names came out in the list
of winners. The winning 12 candidates there were Aquino, Pangilinan, Mendoza,
Go, dela Rosa, Espiritu, Marcoleta, Casino, Bondoc, Rodriguez, Lacson and Castro.
As as shown by the complete but unofficial results
provided by the Commission on Elections, the overseas vote, which was done
online for the first time, hardly reflected the national outcome.
This is due in large part to the low turnout for the
historic vote. For example, out of the 4,557 registered voters in Southern California,
which includes not just LA but also parts of Nevada and Arizona, only 1,131
voted online, for a dismal turnout of 3.27 percent.
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| Philippine Consul General for Macau Jun Israel and Macau CG Edna May Lazaro made up the Special Board of Canvassers along with Vice Consul Gino Soriano |
Many voters have pointed to a lack of information about the new mode of voting, despite Comelec’s reported budget of at least P1.42 billion for making the transition as seamless as possible for the registered 1.3 million Filipino voters all over the world.
The technology used was also seen as far from
user-friendly, as many voters complained of failing to even get past the
initial stage of enrolling their credentials so they could be issued a ballot.
When they did manage to cast their ballots online, a
number of voters expressed suspicion that their ballots had been replaced
because the final page that showed up on their screen displayed a jumble of
letters that seemed to form names of candidates they did not vote for.
Comelec and other officials tasked with administering
the vote attributed this to birthing pains, and hope that the various experiences
gained from the new technology would serve overseas voters in good stead when
they get to vote in the more crucial presidential election in 2028.
