MANILA — Only 58,000 of the 2 million overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have enrolled in the online voting system for the 2025 midterm elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Tuesday.

PDP-Laban asks Supreme Court to stop internet voting for overseas Filipinos in Halalan 2025

Under the Comelec online voting scheme, overseas voters must also be enrolled into the new system so that the poll body can confirm their identities and send them personal identification numbers that are among the safety features when casting their votes online.

“Baka after Holy Week, tumaas na yung ating mga enrollees at the same time yung mga boboto na rin po dahil nakikita natin na lagi namang ganito ang sitwasyon,” said Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco.

“Baka naman nagpapahinga yung ating mga kababayan at tinitingnan pa yung mga kaganapan,” he said.

The Comelec’s new online voting system drew criticism earlier this week after several OFWs complained that they could not visibly verify the names of the candidates they voted for.

The Comelec explained that the encrypted script that OFWs saw on their monitors is different from the ballot face that shows the candidates they voted for. 

Comelec says no glitch in overseas voting

So far, the enrollment for the online voting scheme for the 2025 midterm elections remains open for OFWs. 

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court to stop the Comelec’s internet voting system, but the High Court has yet to decide on the plea. 

While the Comelec is bound to abide by Supreme Court’s decision, Laudiangco said that it would be difficult to revert back to physical or mail voting for OFWs. 

“Kung babalik tayo sa dati, kailangan natin mag-imprenta ng balota at kailangan maipadala ito sa 96 na embassies at consulates na nakakalat sa buong mundo... Mas malaki ang kakailanganing pera dahil yung deployment napakabigat magpa-deploy,” he said. 

“Kailangan 30 araw po ang botohan sa overseas so ang maaaring mangyari po ay maurong yung halalan natin dahil kailangan natin ibigay yung 30 days na voting sa kanila,” he added.

The Philippines will also have to spend P470 million if it reverts to physical voting for OFWs, Laudiangco said, noting that this is more than triple the current P100-million contract for online voting. 

“Yung pinapadalang balota, almost 90 percent hindi bumabalik kahit binayaran na natin sa post office ng ibang bansa,” he said. 

“Yung iba naman nalalayuan o walang oras na pumunta sa embahada o konsulada kaya nga po tumungo na ang Comelec sa internet voting hoping na… mapataas ang voter turnout dahil napakababa,” he added.

Instead of reverting back to physical voting, the Comelec hopes to include senior citizens and persons with disabilities in the online voting scheme in the next elections should its use in this year’s polls yield positive feedback, the spokesman said.

But the Comelec clarified that Congress needed to amend the law before the online voting scheme could cover more segments of the population.

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