Philippine citizens in Hawai'i vote in presidential election
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was the favorite among the 84 Filipino nationals in Hawai'i who voted in the Philippine presidential election. However, the final outcome must wait until the excruciatingly slow manual counting and re-counting ends within about a week.
The first ballots, from shipboard seamen voting absentee, were cast March 12, but voting ended worldwide at 9 p.m. May 10, Hawai'i time. The Philippine Congress will hold the official count on Monday.
ARROYO
The latest unofficial tally showed Arroyo's lead over Fernando Poe Jr. shrinking to about 5 percentage points, with nearly 52 percent of precincts reporting, according to the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections, a government-sanctioned watchdog group.
The margin in Hawai'i is wider, as it is among overseas voters worldwide. Globally, Arroyo voters cast twice, or even three times, the ballots garnered by her main rival Poe, said Dean Alegado, an election watcher and chairman of the University of Hawai'i Ethnic Studies Department.
Hawai'i had only 118 registered voters and 84 of them cast votes, said Eva Betita, Philippine consul and acting head of post.
Consul General Rolando Gregorio is in Washington, D.C., delivering the Hawai'i tally to the Philippine Embassy: 40 for Arroyo; 23 for Poe; 17 for Panfilo Lacson; 3 for Raul Roco; and 1 for Eduardo Villanueva.
In the vice-presidential race, Poe's running mate Loren Legarda led the pack with 43 votes in Hawai'i, followed by Arroyo candidate Noli de Castro with 33. Herminio Aquino got the remaining five votes. Filipinos vote separately for president and vice president.
Hawai'i Vice Consul Arlene Gonzales-Macaisa said thousands more could be qualified to vote under the new dual citizenship law, but only a handful used that option. Most were deterred by a requirement that they sign an affidavit pledging to return to the Philippines within three years to establish residency.
"They were afraid of losing their immigration status here," Gonzales-Macaisa said.
The unofficial tally by the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections serves as a check for voter fraud at the various points where votes are counted and precinct tallies are combined, said Belinda Aquino, director of the UH Center for Philippine Studies, and there have been scattered allegations of irregularities, especially concerning local races.
Aquino also noted that last year's lawsuit over the contract for a computerized balloting system meant that one more Philippines election would have to be counted by hand.
Alegado said Arroyo hopes to avert all the legal challenges, and further delays, that accompany close elections.
"It's been torturously slow," Alegado agreed. "Arroyo needs to worry if her margin goes below 300,000 or so. She's looking for a clear mandate."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
