Hong Kong has highest overseas absentee voting registrants

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 17,486 Filipinos in Hong Kong have registered to vote in next year’s elections as of Aug. 5, the highest turnout worldwide, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Quoting a report from the Philippine Consulate General, the DFA said the overseas voter registration in Hong Kong was conducted in several banks and remittance companies since July this year.

Last July 30, the DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat reported that Los Angeles registered a total of 8,884 voters; Dubai 8,542; and Singapore 6,926.

This year, the number of registered overseas voters worldwide has reached 157,398, surpassing the 2005/2006 figure of 142,667, the report added.

The DFA said the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong will conduct more field registrations at the Epiphany Parish Mass Centre and the St. Matthew’s Church in Tuen Mun.

Previous field registrations were held in Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Ma On Shan, Sai Kung, Tai Po, Shatin, and Tsing Yi in the New Territories; DPCF and St. Joseph’s Church in Central; Chai Wan and Sheung Wan in Hong Kong Island; Hung Hom, Hang Hau, Kowloon Tong, Prince Edward and Choi Hung Estate in Kowloon; and Cheung Chau Island and Discovery Bay in Lantau Island.

Filipinos in Hong Kong have until Aug. 31 to register to vote in next year’s elections, the DFA said.

The Blas Ople Center has reported that the number of registered absentee voters has exceeded 170,000 worldwide.

Susan Ople, center head, said their goal is to boost the number of registered overseas voters.

They have organized a forum that would enable OFWs to get to know presidential candidates up close and personal, she added.

OFWs and their families will meet online five presidentiables in a two-hour forum, “Usapan OFW: A Leader Forum” tonight, Ople said.

Ople said Senators Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Jamby Madrigal and Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio are set to join the forum from 4 to 6 p.m. at ABS-CBN in Quezon City, she said.

Ople said the program will be aired live on dzMM Teleradyo (Channel 26 on SkyCable) with replays on The Filipino Channel, she added. – Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin, philstar., August 15, 2009