By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

ONLY about 8 percent or 668 of the 8,514 registered Filipino voters in the CNMI have so far cast absentee ballots in Philippine senatorial and party-list representatives elections as of yesterday afternoon, but Philippine Consul General Wilfredo DL. Maximo said they expect the bulk of registrants to vote before the close of the polls on May 14.
This is the second time that overseas Filipino workers have participated in the Philippine elections.
Maximo, in an interview yesterday, said the small number of voters three weeks after the April 14 commencement of the overseas absentee voting will increase in “a surge in voting toward May 14” and also pointed out that the senatorial elections are not as popular as the presidential elections among voters.
During the 2004 presidential elections, 69 percent of the over 7,000 registered Filipino voters in the CNMI cast their votes.
“There’s nothing like the glitter of the presidential election…although we continue to encourage people to vote,” said Maximo. “This is something they all clamored for in the past — to have a voice in the conduct of our national affairs. This is the time for them to exercise that power. They should not let their votes go to waste.”
Worldwide, 25,650 registered Filipino voters have cast their votes as of yesterday.
Maximo said a downturn in the economy may also have something to do with the low voter turnout.
“Of the over 8,000 registered voters, some of them may have already left the CNMI because of the economy; the companies they worked for may have closed. Workers from Rota and Tinian will also not be able to vote unless they pay for their fare to come to Saipan and vote,” he said.
Danny Bicera, 46, said he has yet to cast his vote because of a busy schedule as a building manager.
“But I will vote; hopefully this Saturday…to exercise my right,” he said.
Bicera, who has been working on Saipan for 17 years, said he also voted in the presidential elections in 2004 and his candidate won.
“I voted for (now President Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo but I was disappointed. Maybe it’s just that there’s no better candidate,” he said.
The first Filipino worker in the CNMI to cast his vote in this year’s elections was Edgardo Reyes, an engineer, at exactly 9 a.m. on April 14.
“It was not intentional although I’m proud of it. I went to the consulate general for another matter but I saw that the voting booths were there plus the staff told me that since I was there, why not cast my vote?” Reyes said yesterday.
Reyes, the board chairman of the United Filipino Organization, the umbrella organization of all Filipino groups in the CNMI, said among those senatorial candidates he voted for were those who visited Saipan since he started working here in 1997, including Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan and Francis Escudero although he said many in the CNMI may also vote for those with “showbiz” or “celebrity” status.
There are also many in the CNMI who want to vote but failed to register.
Maximo encouraged workers to cast their votes. The polling stations on the first floor of the Marianas Business Plaza (formerly the Nauru Building) are open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no lunch break.
“Counting will begin right after the close of elections on May 14,” he added.