THE one-month absentee voting period for overseas Filipinos began on Sunday, the first time the internet will be used to cast ballots in 77 Philippine diplomatic posts abroad.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman John Rex Laudiangco, who is also the concurrent chief of the Education and Information Division (EID), said overseas voting in countries where there are registered Filipino voters started at 8 a.m. local time.
First to start were areas under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, which opened at 4 a.m. or 8 a.m. Philippine time.
Filipinos abroad can also choose to vote by mail or in person in 16 other countries where internet voting is disallowed due to security concerns.
Laudiangco said that among the countries that ban internet voting are China, Russia, Turkey, Israel and Libya.
Republic Act 10590 defines an overseas voter as a Filipino citizen residing abroad who is qualified to vote but is not physically present in the Philippines on election day.
There are 1.2 million registered overseas Filipinos, both land- and sea-based, according to the Comelec.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said overseas Filipinos can only vote via the internet if they are pre-enrolled.
As of April 11, only 48,000 out of 1.2 million overseas registered voters had enrolled for the 2025 elections, Garcia said.
Online pre-enrollment will be open until May 7.
The Comelec hopes to boost voter turnout among overseas Filipinos with the new system, which in 2022 was reached only 38 percent.
Garcia urged local voters to help educate their relatives abroad on the need to pre-enroll if they are based in an area covered by the online voting system.
A total of 72,208 voters applied for the three-day local absentee voting (LAV), which will be from April 28 to April 30.
The Comelec approved only 57,569 of the applications.
Both local and overseas absentee voters can only vote for national candidates — 12 senators and 1 party-list group.
On Friday, MIRU Systems, in partnership with the Comelec and leading election tech providers, unveiled the National Technical Support Center at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
The 24/7 command center will act as the nerve center for real-time election troubleshooting, fielding reports from thousands of election officers, Department of Education (DepEd) personnel, and technicians nationwide.
Any technical disruptions — whether involving Miru’s Automated Counting Machines (ACMs), the Secure Electronic Transmission Services (SETs) by iOne Resources and Ardent Networks, or the Overseas Voting System (OVCS) managed by SMS Global Technologies and Sequent Tech — will be swiftly addressed to prevent delays in vote counting and transmission.
With over 110 repair hubs strategically positioned across the Philippines, Miru Systems has pre-deployed spare parts, peripherals and rapid-response teams to tackle hardware or software malfunctions on election day.
“Our goal is zero downtime,” said Andrew Shim, Miru Systems’ project managing director. “From the moment polls open until the last vote is transmitted, this support network guarantees that every technical issue is resolved transparently and efficiently.”
WITH JOSE FRANCO BAROÑA
