Excellencies,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Partners from the NGO community,
Commissioner Florentino A. Tuason, Jr.,
Bishop Arguelles,
Undersecretary Palabyab,
Fellow government workers,
Ladies and gentlemen:

With the push of a button, we inaugurate our Overseas Absentee Voting Monitoring and Action Center.  I wish implementing the Overseas Absentee Voting Law was as easy as flicking a switch.

I have to admit that ensuring that our overseas Filipinos are able to exercise their right to vote has not been without its fair share of challenges. After all, it took nearly 17 years from the 8th to the 12th Congress of the Philippines, under the terms of 4 Presidents before the Overseas Absentee Voting Act was passed.

Through the OAV Law, overseas Filipinos are offered an opportunity to discharge the role that the hour demands of them – to exercise freely and wisely their right to choose the country’s leaders who shall lead the nation.

From August 1 to September 30 last year, the DFA, under the stewardship of my predecessor, the late Secretary Blas F. Ople, hurdled the biggest challenge in this historic implementation of the OAV Act of 2003 that of undertaking the registration of qualified Filipino voters.  We managed to register more than 40% of what we predicted.

When I took over the leadership of the Department of Foreign Affairs in December, little did I know that I would be finding myself right in the middle of this awesome responsibility.  But I have certainly not been alone.  With me are the dedicated men and women of the Department, here and abroad.  With me are the devoted and hardworking members of our OAV Secretariat.  With me are officials who have worked long hours, dealt with difficult problems and made sure that all challenges were met.  I commend them all, particularly Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis, the Chairman of the OAV Secretariat and his very able Vice-Chair, Ms. Cathy Maceda, who have been at the frontlines.
 
The COMELEC has been a diligent and attentive partner.  Our collaboration with Commissioner Tuason and his staff has been most fruitful.  We thank our partners from the Filipino overseas communities, the NGOs and migrant groups for their work and advocacy.  We are grateful for the assistance and cooperation of our fellow public servants, from the Department of Labor and Employment, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, and our volunteers from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.

And through the diplomats present here today, I would like to thank their home governments for their cooperation, for their observers and for their best wishes.

The center that we inaugurate today will make sure that the work of our 577 precincts overseas will go on smoothly.  We are not here for a quick count but to see to it that our precincts complete their count in the manner and within the time prescribed by law.

May I share with you the message conveyed to all the Presidential candidates a few minutes ago by the Archbishop of Manila who called for unity, honesty and peace.  He also called on every candidate to abide by the results of the elections and that any form of destabilization will only further the plight of the disadvantaged.
 
Finally, I welcome the reassurance of Commissioner Tuason who expressed this afternoon that the elections will go on as scheduled.  Please join us in our prayers that we shall attain our goal to have a fair and free elections and that the will of the Filipino people to be expressed during the elections tomorrow will be respected by all.