MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said it hoped to register at least one million overseas Filipinos in its online voting project.

Of the estimate 10 million overseas Filipinos, only 1.6 million are registered voters and only 600,000 participated in the 2022 elections.

“Hindi pa rin sila bumoboto dahil sasabihin nila malayo, ayaw nilang mag-absent sa kanilang trabaho, hindi sila pinapahintulutan ng kanilang bosses," Comelec Spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco said.

"Pero sa pamamagitan nito (internet voting), halos lahat po ng overseas Filipinos may cellphone, ‘yan po ang gusto nating i-tap…makakaboto sila and at the same time, mas mataas na voter turnout,” he added.

Even seafarers who are at sea can vote online.

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To ensure that votes are cast by the actual voter, Laudiangco said there would be authentication measures. There will also be other security measures in place, depending on the proposals of bidders.

“Tinitignan din po natin dito ‘yung data privacy. At tinitignan po natin sa lahat ng aspeto ‘yung security o ‘yung cyber security. Nandoon din po yung tinatawag natin na accuracy ng recording, accuracy ng pag-count,” Laudiangco said.

Voter registration for overseas Filipinos is scheduled until September 30, 2024.

In a pre-bid conference on Thursday afternoon, Comelec explained to prospective suppliers the various aspects of the P465.8-million project.

Only one company, SMS Global Technologies, Inc., bought bid documents.

Bid documents may be bought until February 8.

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