Overseas Filipino voters exceed 100,000 mark

INQUIRER.net
Posted date: June 18, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—The number of Filipinos overseas who have registered to vote in next year’s presidential, senatorial, and local elections has surpassed the 100,000 mark, the Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat of the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.
DFA Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis said he expects more Filipinos abroad would register as the deadline for overseas absentee voting registration nears. Registration for overseas Filipinos started on February 1 and will end on August 31.

“This has always been the case in previous registration drives. The nearer it is to the deadline, the greater the number of last-minute registrants,” Seguis said.

As of June 17, the number of absentee voting registrants is 104, 475, with Asia and the Pacific getting the most number at 28,770, followed by the Americas at 21,386, then by Middle East and Africa at 18,627, then Europe at 12,618, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration offices at 13, 588, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 8,757, and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas at 729.

The same report shows that the top ten countries in terms of OAV registrants are: the United States of America with 17,262; China with 11,250; United Arab Emirates with 7,297; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with 5,176; Singapore with 4,577; Taiwan with 4,136; United Kingdom with 4,066; Canada with 4,009; Japan with 3,510; and Italy with 2,799.

Seguis noted that 27,000 Filipinos set to leave for abroad or who are here on vacation have availed of the OAV registration service at the POEA, NAIA, and CFO.

“We are calling on all Filipinos overseas and those who are about to leave the country to work abroad to register as absentee voters so they can exercise their right to vote in the 2010 presidential elections,” he said.

Seguis said his office is in touch with different posts and have called on every embassy and consulate to intensify its campaign on absentee voting registration.

The Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong has reported the highest number of registrants at 10,455 followed by the Philippine consulate general in Los Angeles, California with 6,534 registrants.

In the Middle East, 5,571 Filipinos in Dubai have registered with the Philippine consulate general thus taking the number one spot among the different posts in the said region.

The Philippine embassy in London leads the different posts in Europe with 4,066 registrants.

According to the OAVS, registration activities are ongoing in all 93 foreign service Posts, three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), and one Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).

A Memorandum of Agreement between the DFA-OAVS, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, and the Commission on Elections-Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting was signed on June 4 to increase the participation of overseas Filipinos to register as absentee voters. These include Filipino permanent migrants or permanent residents abroad, Filipinos overseas who have become citizens of other countries, and Filipino spouses and fiancées of foreign nationals leaving the country.