Expatriate Filipinos want voice in Charter change

The huge population of Filipino overseas workers is clamoring for a say in proposals for a new national constitution.

Leaders from the United States, Saudi Arabia and other regions are calling for Manila to listen to expatriate workers and digest their views, a report from the Philippine Inquirer said.


Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (R) seen here with Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano at Quirinale palace on Rome June 26, 2006. Seh is pushing for a new constitution and a parliamentary system of government. REUTERS/Handout/Enrico Oliverio-Italian Presidency Press Office via Yahoo News.

Overseas Filipinos contribute billions of dollars in remittances to the natinoal coffers each year, and the Philippines has long been the world's leading exporter of workers.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is pushing for a new constitution that would switch the country to a parliamentary form of government.