Suffrage of Filipino green card holders abroad - Enfranchising ‘duals’ and ‘greens’ | Inquirer Opinion

Enfranchising ‘duals’ and ‘greens’ | Inquirer Opinion

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Comes now Fil-American lawyer Ted Laguatan. He argues that greens (who remain Filipinos and have not become Americans) should be put on equal footing with the duals. According to him, the residence requirement should no longer apply as a condition for voting and that greens should no longer be required to sign the affidavit. “This affidavit,” he wrote, “has a chilling effect on the greens”; it negates the constitutional intent, to quote Nicolas, “to enfranchise… all overseas Filipinos… qualified to vote.”

I agree with Laguatan. I anchored my concurrence to the Macalintal decision not on the old theory of domicile; rather, I wrote that the Information Age already fulfills the purpose of the residency requirement. Overseas Filipinos, without having to reside here physically, have the means to inform themselves of our country’s needs and of the suitability of candidates for national offices. Interactive news websites, cable TV programs, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, cell phones, Skype, Magic Jack, e-mails, teleconferencing and other electronic wonders no longer require actual physical presence to acquire thorough knowledge of Philippine political life.

Since the goal of the residency qualification is accomplished by the globalization of information, then the purpose of the law is fulfilled. Our brothers and sisters abroad should be allowed to vote during national elections without anachronistic roadblocks. After all, being the single biggest source of foreign exchange, they keep our economy afloat.

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