ALKHOBAR/JEDDAH, 25 August 2003 — Community leaders in the Kingdom have started an information campaign through text messaging, urging Filipinos to sign up before the registration period for absentee voters ends. Except for Hong Kong, the turnout of registrants in the Philippines’ first absentee voting exercise have been dismal that some lawmakers at home are reportedly grumbling for supporting an expensive exercise whose beneficiaries are showing lack of interest.
As of Friday, only around 9,000 have registered in the Kingdom.
Of the total, 4,900 registered at the embassy in Riyadh and 1,120 at the International Philippine School in Alkhobar (IPSA), said Vice Consul Adrian Cruz, the embassy’s political officer.
In Jeddah, only 2,977 have registered so far as of Friday, said administrative officer Taha Guinomla of the Philippine Consulate.
The total number in the Kingdom is far behind the number of registrants in Hong Kong, which had gone past 20,000.
Tony Ranque, a convenor in Alkhobar for the International Coalition on Filipino Voting Rights (ICOFVR), said more help is needed among leaders of the various community organizations in the Kingdom because there may still be a big number of OFWs who don’t know yet about the Overseas Absentee Voting.
Ranque attributed the high registration rate in Hong Kong to the “result-orientedness” of organizations there. He said community groups in the Kingdom should do the same.
“The organizations in Hong Kong are very strong and their members immediately act once their leaders initiate an information campaign. And they want to get results fast,” Ranque said.
Andy Reyes, outgoing overall chairman of the All-Filipino Community and Sports Commission (Afcscom), urged all the 58 organizations under Afscom’s umbrella to mobilize their members and register early.
Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla, who inaugurated the opening of the registration in Alkhobar last week, also urged community leaders to help the embassy in its information campaign.
“We urge everybody to register early and not wait for the deadline so our registrants as well as our embassy staff will not cram and experience fatigue on the last days of the registration,” Guinomla said.
Guinomla also repeatedly campaigned for registration when he keynoted the opening of the 11th Jameel Sports Organization Invitational Basketball Tournament at the newly-refurbished ALJ basketball court in Jeddah last Friday. He noted that while the registration is picking up, there is still a lot of work to be done.
During the games, sportscaster Jojo Ligan, chairman of the Overseas Filipino Sports Association (OFSA), also makes it a point to keep remind players and spectators about the importance of registering as absentee voters.
Only those who register as absentee voters can vote in the May 2004 Philippine election for president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives.
Because of the potential strength of OFW voters, politicians have been busy courting OFW votes.
Next month, President Gloria Arroyo is expected to meet with community groups also in the three key cities when she visits the Kingdom. She will also visit Dubai, one of the biggest concentrations of overseas Filipinos.