The Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are ramping up efforts to implement internet voting for Overseas Filipinos in the upcoming 2025 National Elections.
This initiative began with a training and information drive in Busan, South Korea, in June 2024, where around 80 Filipino community leaders and media members participated. Following this, similar events took place in Barcelona, Spain, Hong Kong, and Singapore between July and August 2024.
The series of training aims to prepare Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) for their roles in facilitating internet voting. The sessions also serve to inform Filipino community leaders and the media about the new voting process.
“DFA-OVS fully supports Comelec with this additional new mode of voting that will not only encourage our countrymen abroad to exercise their right of suffrage but will also make the electoral process easier and more convenient for them,” said DFA-OVS chair and Undersecretary Jesus Domingo.
Future training sessions are scheduled for San Francisco, USA, Prague, Czech Republic, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Vancouver, Canada, and Doha, Qatar, leading up to the 2025 elections. The success of this initiative may also pave the way for internet voting to be used domestically for groups such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women, according to Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia.
A total of 76 Foreign Service Posts, including Manila Economic Cultural Offices (Mecos), will conduct internet voting in the 2025 elections. Overseas voter registration is open until Sept. 30, 2024.