By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Voters check their names against the list furnished by Comelec to make sure they can cast their ballots |
Consul General Antonio Morales has stirred a hornet’s nest
when he said Philippine laws ban campaigning during the entire overseas voting
period, which for this year is set for April 13 to May13.
Filipino community leaders who attended a meeting at the Consulate
on Mar 31 challenged the lawyer-diplomat, insisting campaigning has always been
allowed at a park across Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town
Many of the veteran leaders said the ban had applied only to
campaigning inside Bayanihan from the
time the first overseas election was held in 2004.
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| Illegal? Filcom veterans Cynthia Tellez and Eman Villanueva handing out leaflets outside Bayanihan during the 2016 election |
In response, Morales read a section of Republic Act 9189, or
Overseas Voting Act of 2003, which says: “It is a prohibited act for any person
to engage in partisan political activity abroad during the 30-day overseas
voting period.”
“Eh kung tama ho iyan
o mali
The SUN tried to get a clarification about the law from
the Commission on Elections, but has yet to receive a reply.
Morales, however, admitted that there is a grey area in the
law because criminal laws of one country have no extra territorial application
in another country. Still, he said everyone should be careful because if somebody
complained, they could be prosecuted.
Deputy Consul General Germinia Usudan, who is also a lawyer,
backed her boss. She said supporters should think twice about campaigning because
if somebody files a complaint, it is their candidate who will suffer the
consequences.
In a separate interview days after the meeting, Congen
Morales insisted the law against campaigning during the entire overseas vote
should be followed, but conceded this would be difficult to enforce abroad.
“That is the letter of the law,” he said. Asked who might
try to file a case using the said law, Morales said, “supporters of some
candidates. They could file cases against those in the rival camps.”
He also said that in Singapore
where he was last posted before Hong Kong ,
there is a law that prohibits candidates from other countries to do their campaigning
there. “But I guess there is no such law in Hong Kong ,”
he said.
During the Filcom consultation, a woman asked why several
first-time voters in the presidential election in 2016 were now missing from
the list of 87,441 certified voters that the PCG had displayed in the public
area.
Consul Robert Quintin, who is in charge of the overseas
voting in Hong Kong , advised the woman to
provide a list of those whose names had disappeared so he could ask the Comelec
to revalidate them.
Also at the meeting were Consul Paulo Saret and Consul
Fatima Quintin.
The discussions focused mainly on preparations for the upcoming
overseas election, in which voters will elect 12 new senators from among 62
candidates and choose one party-list from 104 aspirants.
Morales said the midterm election is very important for the
future of the nation and urged the voters to choose their candidates wisely.
Morales said the Consulate, which has been deputized by the
Comelec to conduct the overseas voting in Hong Kong ,
has already formed the three bodies that will administer the vote: the Special
Ballot Reception and Custody Group, the Special Board of Election Inspectors,
and the Special Board of Canvassers.
Nine SBEIs have been formed to oversee the process in each
of the voting precincts. Each SBEI will have a chairman and two members who
will administer the testing and sealing of vote-counting machines, receive and
transmit election returns and ensure order in the precincts.
Robert Quintin said that one member in each SBEI has been
certified by the Department of Science and Technology to be capable of
operating the vote-counting machine
His wife, Fatima Quintin, reminded voters that taking photos
of the ballot is prohibited, and that the SBEIs will require obedience in the
precincts.
The voting will start at 8am on Apr 13, a Saturday, and will
close at 5pm. On Sundays, voting will be from 8am to 6pm, and on weekdays and
Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. On May 13, voting ends at 6pm.
Canvassing of election returns by the SBOC will begin right after
the polling stations close. Hong Kong will be the center for canvassing the returns
from the SAR, Beijing , Shanghai ,
Guangzhou , Xiamen ,
Chongqing , Macau and Mongolia
Morales will be the SBOC chairperson and Consul General Lilybeth
Deapera of the PCG in Macau the vice
chairperson.
Two other items on the agenda were the preparations for
Philippine Independence Day activities in June and the controversial
anti-measles vaccination of Filipino workers.
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