Philippine OFWs: Swing Vote of the 2010 Philippine Presidential Elections?

With the bugs behind the electronic voting system sorted out, will absentee voters – like Philippine OCWs and OFWs – form the crucial swing vote of the 2010 Philippine Presidential Elections?


By: Ringo Bones


As a developing nation, the Philippines is probably one of the world’s top providers of Overseas Contract Workers and Overseas Foreign Workers – OCWs and OFWs. These workers range from personnel manning container ships to nannies who know CPR with small-arms proficiency qualifications working for millionaire families. In past Philippine Presidential Elections, the concept of absentee voters doesn’t even exist due to cheating concerns. But the recent sorting out of electronic voting schemes, will absentee voting status of OCWs and OFWs make them the ultimate swing vote this coming May elections?

Filipinos who chose to work abroad – at least those that I know personally – chose to do it because they are sick and tired of the inherent and institutionalized government corruption that exists in the Philippines. An overwhelming majority of them are even in the process of becoming a citizen of their host country. Citing that the Philippine government is already under head-to-ass control by the Catholic Church making the government policies on Planned Parenthood almost stillborn, not to mention the Islamophobia and lack of academic freedom inherent in a Catholic Hegemony. Or maybe they just can’t seem to get enough of those under-aged teen prostitutes frequenting near the Gdansk shipyards, who knows?

Are Filipino OCWs and OFWs be the long awaited swing vote this May 10, 2010? Who knows if they’ll even show up in their nearest Philippine embassy when election time comes? But there’s one thing for sure if they’ll chose to vote, it will spell the end for nuisance candidates that typically comes out of the woodwork every presidential election time. Because a typical Filipino OCWs and OFWs are way smarter than a typical poverty-stricken Filipino voter who are - more often than not - cannot even afford college-level education. And given some Philippine presidential candidates placing on-line campaign ads in international websites, these candidates are probably desperate to make this crucial swing vote swing in their favor.