JEDDAH, 24 September 2003 — With just a week left for the Philippine absentee voting registration, Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla yesterday ordered his staff to work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day to accommodate late registrants.

A press statement from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh quoted the ambassador as saying they have to get ready for an expected influx of Overseas Filipino Workers trying to beat the deadline.

“Let’s do ocho-ocho (eight-eight),” Guinomla was quoted by the statement as having told his staff.

He called on those qualified to vote to take advantage of the extended registration hours and avoid inconvenience, which is likely in the last few days.

As of yesterday, the number of registrants in the Central and Eastern regions of Saudi Arabia totaled 39,213, of which 25,924 were registered at the embassy in Riyadh and 13,289 in Al-Khobar.

The Al-Khobar registration center, located at the International Philippine School in Al-Khobar, is under the embassy’s jurisdiction.

In Jeddah, the total number of registrants reached 19,680 as of last night, according to the Philippine Consulate General.

Vice Consul Jose V. Jacob, the acting principal officer at the consulate, said the team involved in the registration exercise also worked overtime until 8 p.m. last night to accommodate a busload of OFWs from Arabian Homes. The consulate staff, along with volunteers from the Filipino community, had been working from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday for the past weeks.

No Hassle

The registration process had been fairly quick, unlike in the first few days.

To make life easier for everyone, registrants are required only a photocopy of their passports plus a copy of their iqamas, if they are not in possession of their original passports.

For those who do not have even a copy of their passport, other identification cards issued by Philippine government agencies such as the OWWA and SSS would be honored.

With the above-mentioned documents, applicants only need to fill up some forms for processing, after which their pictures and fingerprints are taken with the use of a biometrics machine.

This writer visited the consulate on Monday at 5:25 p.m. and took only 17 minutes to complete the registration process. And as reiterated by Ambassador Guinomla yesterday in a press statement, the processing, photocopying and translation services and forms used in the registration are all free of charge.

The registration, which started on Aug. 1, is to end on Sept. 30. Only those who register and whose application are validated by the Commission on Election (Comelec) in Manila would be allowed to vote in the first absentee voting for overseas Filipinos in May 2004.

Under the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) law signed by President Arroyo early this year, OFWs and migrant Filipinos who have not yet renounced their Philippine citizenship are qualified to vote in Philippine national elections. Under the Dual Citizenship law, which took effect on Sept. 17, those who have renounced their Philippine citizenship could also vote in Philippine elections after they take the oath to regain Philippine citizenship.

Absentee voters are allowed to vote for the president, vice president, senators and party-list representatives.

In Manila, however, Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos was quoted yesterday as saying former Filipino citizens who have reacquired their citizenships under the Dual Citizenship Law cannot yet vote in the May 10, 2004 elections.

A report by the Inquirer said Abalos pointed out that since the Dual Citizenship Law took effect only on Sept. 17, those who reacquired Filipino citizenship from that date would not be in compliance with the one-year residency requirement before the scheduled polls, which is less than eight months away.

“When a person takes his oath of allegiance (to another country), he loses his domicile,” the report quoted Abalos as saying. “Registration for overseas absentee voting continues, but citizens of host countries will have to fulfill the constitutional requirement.”

Macalintal said this position was backed by a Supreme Court ruling that said a natural-born Filipino who becomes a citizen of another country loses his citizenship and, with it, residency in the Philippines.