THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said the introduction of the internet voting system is expected to spark the interest of Filipinos abroad to get registered and cast their votes during the 2025 polls.
In an interview at the sidelines of the Comelec’s Pre-Bid Conference for the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS), Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said they are confident of the positive effect of the internet voting system to improve the performance of overseas voting.
“What we want is to have higher registration turnout since Filipinos abroad will be encouraged to get registered because they know they’ll be able to vote,” said Laudiangco.
“Hopefully, by internet voting, overseas voters will be encouraged to vote at the convenience of their homes as all overseas Filipinos have cellphones,” he added.
Laudiangco said even seafarers shall have increased opportunities to cast their votes via internet voting.
“Even if they are at sea, they can still cast their votes via internet voting,” he said.
In the past, the poll official noted how Filipinos abroad lost interest in registering as overseas voters because they cannot cast their votes, anyway, because of the distance of the Philippine Embassy or Consulate General to their work areas or residences.
Back in the 2022 polls, there were 1,697,215 Filipinos registered for overseas voting.
However, only 688,961 Filipinos abroad actually voted for a voter turnout of 40.59 percent.
According to Laudiangco, the OVCS is touted to be accessible to cellphones, tablets, laptops, personal computers, or any gadget connected to the internet.
Laudiangco also said the online voting system must also ensure authenticity of voters, confidentiality of vote, data privacy, cyber security, accuracy of counts, auditability, compatibility to the canvassing system, and transparency.
Earlier, the Comelec opened the public bidding for the OVCS with an approved budget of P465,810,926.57.
Yesterday, the Comelec – Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) held the Pre-Bid Conference for the OVCS.
Currently, only SMS Global Technologies, Inc. has purchased the bidding documents for the OVCS project.
