14 October 2005 – Philippine Ambassador to Ottawa Francisco L. Benedicto reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that a team from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) conducted a briefing for the Filipinos in Canada on the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) law as the Embassy kicked-off its campaign to drum up support and registration for the OAV.

COMELEC Directors Estrella P. De Mesa and Ester Villaflor-Roxas and Atty. Kabaitan Guinhawa-Valmonte arrived in Ottawa from Vancouver on 4 October 2005 and immediately held a dialogue with leaders of various Filipino-Canadian organizations in Ottawa and Montreal.   Ambassador Benedicto led the officers and staff of the Embassy as well as leaders of the Filipino communities in welcoming the COMELEC team.

At the meeting, Director De Mesa discussed the salient points of the OAV law particularly those provisions affecting permanent residents and dual citizens in Canada.   The discussion was followed by an open forum, which allowed leaders of the Filipino community to raise their concerns about OAV and put forth suggestions on generating more registrants and voters for the next elections.    Ambassador Benedicto said that among the issues raised were the possibility of online registration and voting, registration by mail and the computerization of elections.

Ambassador Benedicto also reported that the provision in the OAV Law which requires permanent residents and naturalized Canadians who have reacquired Philippine citizenship to return to the Philippines within three years continued to be a thorny issue, with all of the participants agreeing that the requirement posed a main hurdle in getting overseas Filipinos, particularly in North America, to participate in the electoral process,

The Ambassador said the leaders of the Filipino community in Ottawa and Montreal hailed the visit of the COMELEC team, saying that the discussions increased their level of knowledge and awareness regarding the OAV law.

After the dialogue with the Filipino community leaders, the COMELEC officials met on 5 October 2005 with the Embassy personnel involved in the OAV registration and inspected the facilities as well as the processes for the voters’ registration.

The COMELC team left Ottawa on the morning of 06 October for Vancouver and Hong Kong enroute to Manila. END