- Postmaster General Hector R.R. Villanueva (left) signs the Memorandum of Aggreement (MOA) on the implementation of overseas postal absentee voting for the coming elections. With him are (from left) COMELEC Commisioner Armando C. Velasco (right) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael C. Seguis (center).
In a bid to enable millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) around the world to cast their votes in this year’s presidential elections, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) today signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the opening of the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) Mailing Center located at the annex building of the historic Manila Central Post Office in Liwasang Bonifacio.
The Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (COAV) chaired by Commissioner Armando C. Velasco has tapped the services of PhilPost to ensure that the ballots of the registered overseas absentee voters are properly delivered and received on time.
Under the agreement, the ballots of overseas absentee voters shall be sent by the COAV directly to absentee voters with the preparations for the election mailing paraphernalia to be undertaken in Manila.
The COMELEC and DFA shall tap the technical capability, logistical and administrative know-how of Philpost.
Postmaster General Hector R.R. Villanueva said the country, through Philpost, is linked to the postal systems of 190 other member-countries of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) under the United Nations.
As an independent constitutional body, the COMELEC, with the assistance of the DFA, has the mandate to supervise the implementation of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act “for the purpose of ensuring honest, orderly, peaceful and free elections among OFW’s”.