Marcos hopes to get votes of OFWs

FILE PHOTO: Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs wait at the airport. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is hoping to get the vote of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) – a sector that helped boost his vice presidential bid in 2016, albeit ultimately resulting in a loss to Vice President Leni Robredo.

Marcos Jr. conducted Friday a “Miting de Avance” with OFWs – many of whom participated via video teleconference.

“I sincerely hope so. We’re not confident of anything until we actually get it. So but yes, of course, we are working hard to get their support,” Marcos Jr. told reporters following the hybrid Miting de Avance with OFWs.

During the Miting de Avance, Marcos Jr. said that among others there should be a re-training program for returning OFWs who wish to again work abroad as well as livelihood programs for OFWs who have decided to return and stay in the country.

Marcos Jr. got the most number of overseas votes – which includes OFWs – when he ran for vice president in 2016. Ultimately, however, it was Robredo who won the vice presidential race.

It’s round three-battle for Marcos Jr. and Robredo in this year’s election, as both are running for president in the 2022 polls – because Robredo won the second time against Marcos Jr. when the high court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, dismissed his protest against her 2016 win.

According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), more than 1.5 million Filipinos overseas have registered to vote in the 2022 national elections.