Robredo wants more voting precincts for BPO workers in Cebu, other areas

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo said that her camp will be filing a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) seeking additional voting precincts near business process outsourcing (BPO) offices in Cebu and other areas, to allow workers to vote on election day.

During a meeting with the BPO sector in Cebu on Monday, Robredo raised concerns about the fact that work schedules of most BPO workers are in conflict with the voting hours for the 2022 national elections, which would run from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on May 9.

Robredo said that they have identified three areas in Cebu that may be sites for additional voting precincts — Cebu Asia–Cebu Business Park,  the Cebu Asiatown IT Park, and the Cebu Business Park — so that BPO workers can cast their votes in a time amenable to them, and avoid getting disenfranchised.

“The main purpose of the petition that our filing with Comelec is to make sure that our BPO employees are not disenfranchised because they might not be able to vote because of the nature of their work,” she said.

However, Robredo also noted that they might expand the scope of their petition as the problem extends past Cebu, as it may be a common problem for BPO offices nationwide.

“But we realized that it is not — that the problem is not only in Cebu BPO employees, but all BPO employees all over the Philippines. So in Cebu I think there’s almost 200 thousand, tama ba? Almost 200 thousand BPO employees but all over the Philippines is about 1.2 million- is about 1.2 million employees,” she said in the meeting which also featured former Cebu mayor Tommy Osmeña.

“So that that much […] that that’s a lot considering that because of the work arrangements would be very difficult for them to you know wake up in the middle of the day to — not just to be able to vote.  But again we’re filing the petition, the petition is done already,” she added.

Robredo said that adding more voting precincts will be the quick action for Comelec, but on a long-term basis, there should be an amendment in the executive order that allows absentee voting for certain sectors like those in the BPO industry.

“We’re asking Comelec to, number one, to open – open voting centers but the long term one is to amend an Executive Order, where certain segment in society are allowed to do absentee voting. You know OFWs abroad are allowed to do absentee voting, uniformed personnel, other government officials who do election duty,” she said.

“We do understand that even BPO employees […] not just BPO employees, but all Filipinos who do the same kind of work that BPO people do will benefit from– will benefit from with the amendment of the Executive Order which will include them in the in the categorization that they should also be entitled to absentee voting privileges,” she added.

Last November 10, Comelec agreed with proposals to extend the voting hours, especially with COVID-19 restrictions seen to limit the number of people who can enter voting precincts at a given time.

Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo told the House committee on suffrage that voting would start at 6:00 am., and end at 7:00 p.m.  If there are still voters outside the polling place by 7:00 p.m., the voting would continue.

READ: Comelec: May 2022 voting hours to run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

However, several shifts within BPO industries start in the middle of the night, which means that some workers may still be asleep during the voting hours.

Currently, only workers in the government, military, and the media are allowed to engage in absentee voting in the 2022 elections, where they can pick their preferred national candidates in the actual voting that would run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. of April 27 to 29.

READ: Comelec sets guidelines for local absentee voting 

JPV