Philippines

Mabuhay!

Welcome to Democrats Abroad Philippines (DA-PH), the official country committee for Democrats living in the Philippines.  As a political group, we aspire to be relevant to the members of the Democratic Party by supporting initiatives to increase participation in the electoral process and providing a platform to get involved in issues that impact their lives while living abroad and the lives of their families in their home states.

We have seen in the past years how elected leaders overtly undermined the democratic principles from which the nation was founded, by:

• making voting more complicated thereby restricting voters from full, unfettered participation;
• restricting voting by traditionally Democratic groups such as people of color, LGBTQ, most immigrants and college students; and
• corrupting the election process by approving Citizen United law and related legislation to promote raising dark money deployed to disinform and undermine elections and voter participation.

These are serious issues that need to be addressed, and we, the people, have the power to change them by the power of our VOTES. Get involved in your state elections by joining your Facebook State Groups, check upcoming state and general elections through www.Ballotpedia.org, campaign, donate, and ensure that that democratic candidates win local, state, and national elections.

The core work of DA-PH is dedicated towards mobilizing Americans to vote for Democratic candidates in state and national elections. To support this agenda, we:

• Recruit new members to expand the membership base.
• Mobilize volunteers through phone banking to ensure they register and vote on time. Sign up for phone banking here. For global volunteering opportunities, please register here.
• Help voters understand how to register and vote from abroad. Click here for detailed 2021 election deadlines for overseas voters.

DA-PH supports, as well, the following issues and advocacies to effect policy reform affecting American citizens in the Philippines:

• Portable Medicare – to enable US citizens to use Medicare benefits in the Philippines.
• Residency-based taxation – so US citizens living abroad will no longer have to file and pay taxes to two countries.
• Advancing the objectives of Democratic Party caucuses such as the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Caucus or AAPI (read more about the issues confronting the AAPI here), Global Women’s Caucus, the Global Black Caucus, and the Global Youth Caucus.

And finally, in the light of the Covid19 pandemic, DA-PH has been very active in advocating for equal access to US-FDA approved Covid19 vaccines for all Americans living in the Philippines regardless of political affiliation. DA-PH provides members the latest developments on our Covid19 vaccine efforts through email.

If you have questions, please drop us an email at: da-ph@democratsabroad.org 
Spread the word & follow us on:

DA Philippines FB Page   Vote From Abroad FB Page	@democratsabroadphilippines @votefromabroad OR @student.votefromabroad	@democratsabroad @vfaglobal

Photo by R.M. Nuñez, Getty Images Pro/CanvaPro | Ifugao Rice Terraces, Batad Philippines |  UNESCO World Heritage Site