OFW group's effort to encourage fellow Pinoys to vote
Date: 05 March 2009
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Wednesday cited an Overseas Filipino Workers' (OFW) formation in the Middle East for its support in encouraging fellow Filipinos to exercise their right to suffrage by registering as Overseas Absentee Voters (OAV).
Migrante - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chapter recently threw their support for wider voter participation among OFWs as it commended the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah for extending the voters' registration days to accommodate more OAV registrants.
"The Commission commends Migrante KSA for taking an active role in encouraging our compatriots in the region to exercise their right to vote. With their help, the COMELEC is optimistic that even in the arid desserts of Saudi Arabia, Filipinos can and will be enabled to plant the seeds of change in the homeland by way of their votes," states COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez.
Jimenez particularly cited the group's efforts to conduct information drives in the Filipino community and for coming up with their own primer on Overseas Absentee Voting.
"We are, thus, encouraging other OFW formations throughout the world to follow Migrante's lead and help us encourage wider voter participation among overseas Filipinos. Let us join hands in proving to the rest of the world that distance and oceans are not a hindrance in proclaiming our love for the Motherland by voting for the nation's next set of leaders in 2010," stressed Jimenez.
The poll body spokesman, meanwhile, stated that 10,824 have already registered as Overseas Absentee Voters worldwide as of March 3, 2009. He said the COMELEC has started accepting application for OAV registration since February 1 and that the process will end August 11, 2009.
He further shared that to encourage more OAV registrants, the COMELEC has set up special registration centers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for departing OFWs. He says this move from the poll body is meant to rid the departing land based and sea based OFWs of the hassle of going to their respective consulates and embassies abroad when they register. ###