MANILA, Philippines – Filipino community groups from Canada and Hong Kong have called for stronger information campaigns for internet voting, which will be the manner of voting for most overseas Filipino voters this 2025 elections.
“The Philippine government, through its consular offices, must promote it early. Give it time for Filipino voters can understand the new system,” said Marissa Corpus, spokesperson of Malaya Canada and Kontra Daya Canada.
This is the first time that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is implementing internet voting in a national election. Previously, overseas Filipinos would either show up at their embassies or consulates to personally fill in their ballots, or mail in their ballots.
In a recent interview with Rappler, the Canada chapters of progressive groups Malaya and Bayan said that their communities are mostly unaware about internet voting in the upcoming election.
“All these years, we have gotten used to our ballots getting mailed to us. But not everybody checks the consulate’s website. In the past months, they should have widely promoted it,” said Corpus. “We are all very worried because this may result in disenfranchisement of so many voters.”
In a statement on February 12, Bayan Muna Hong Kong was also worried over possible disenfranchisement.
“Ang dami nating kababayan na nagugulat kapag sinasabi namin sa mga reach-out programs ng Bayan Muna Partylist na online na ang voting. Wala bang budget ang gobyernong Marcos for voters’ education? O sadyang wala silang pakialam?” said Bayan Muna Hong Kong spokesperson Lai Besana.
(We have a lot of compatriots who get surprised when we tell them during Bayan Muna Partylist reach-out programs that voting will be done online now. Does the Marcos government not have any budget for voters’ education, or do they simply not care?)
When Comelec announced in May 2023 its plan to push through with internet voting, the poll body’s intention was to increase overseas voter turnout. There was a 39% turnout in the 2022 polls, which was already the highest since the Philippines began overseas voting in 2004.
But the groups worry that this might not be the reality. Corpus noted how not all Filipino migrants are tech-savvy, and might not have the requirement of a gadget that has a camera and can connect to the internet.
“Kung ‘yung mga cheap-cheap lang ‘yung phone mo, hindi puwede di ba? So paano? Ang sabi diyan is, pagka senior, ‘yung mga disabled, kailangan pumunta sila sa konsulado. Eh ‘yung mga nakatirang malayo, paano na?” said Corpus.
(If you don’t have a smartphone, you won’t be able to participate, right? So how? They also said that seniors and disabled voters can go to the consulate [to vote]. But if they live far away, how will that work?)
Corpus also said that when mail-in voting was implemented, voters would also be supplied stamps, which made voting worry-free.
The Comelec, together with Philippine embassies and consulates, released an informational video about internet voting in October 2024. More videos started to come out in January and February 2025. But an initial search on one of the hashtags used to promote the videos shows low engagement on most of the posts, with usually not more than 100 reactions as of posting.
Apart from information about voting, the groups also seek clarity on how the Comelec plans to keep the online voting system safe and free from hackers.
“Maraming magagaling na hacker ngayon (There are many good hackers nowadays),” said Danilo de Leon, Migrante Canada chair.
Bayan Muna Canada spokesperson Orli Marcelino also questioned how poll-watching would happen, since traditional elections have poll watchers physically present when votes are cast or counted.
“Dati-rati mayroong poll watcher. Ano ang iwa-watch mo ngayon? Ang daming tanong,” he said. (There used to be poll watchers. But what will you watch now? There are many questions.)
We have reached out to the Comelec for their comment on the overseas groups’ concerns, but they have yet to respond. We will update this story once they do.
Filipino voters in countries that will be using internet voting have to pre-register. The pre-enrollment period for overseas internet voting will begin on March 10, while the month-long period to cast votes overseas will be from April 13 to May 12. – Rappler.com