The Philippine Embassy reminded yesterday Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia that the deadline for registration in Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) is Oct. 31.
“October 31 is fast-approaching and I’d like to encourage all overseas Filipinos in the Kingdom to register now or before the deadline expires so that they could vote in next year’s elections,” Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago told Arab News.
He said that participation in electoral process is their “inherent right because it is part of a democracy.”
Under the OAV Act, officially known as Republic Act 9189, Filipinos outside the Philippines are provided with a system to vote in an election. This law was passed in 2003, being implemented by the Commission on Elections with the help of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Tago told Arab News that the number of OAV registrants so far at the embassy this year is 6,600 and “we’re hoping that more will drop by the embassy to register as the deadline approaches.” The number brings to 56,600 the total number of OFWs in Riyadh who have registered for the OAV since 2003.
He added that the DFA is hoping to have one million OAV registrants for the 2013 elections although the number so far is 800,000, adding that Filipino communities have been helping a lot by using social networking sites to “ensure widest participation of Filipinos overseas.”
To help OFWs with difficulties to register, the embassy has been sending teams to different locations in Riyadh, Qassim and the Eastern Province like schools to hold OAV registration.
Leaders and members of the Filipino community in the Kingdom may also use appropriate networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, and other means of communication to reach out to all Filipinos in their area and encourage them to register.
In Manila, the DFA said that about 200,000 voter registrants have signed up for inclusion in the country’s list of overseas absentee voters.
Alex Bello, one of the convenors for the OAV in 2003, has likewise called on all OFWs in Riyadh to register since they
were the ones who had earlier demanded that they be allowed to participate in choosing national leaders through election.
“If we don’t register and exercise our right to vote, we would be the ones disenfranchising ourselves. We should not do that because the right to vote was granted us OFWs after a long time and prolonged efforts of lobbying for it,” said Bello, who is the OFW Congress president in Riyadh.
Embassy urges Filipinos to register for OAV before Oct. 31
