ALKHOBAR, 30 July 2003 — Filipinos in the Eastern Province will really have to go to Riyadh and register with the Philippine Embassy if they want to vote in the May 2004 Philippine national elections.
Labor Attaché Manuel Roldan relayed the sad news to community leaders in Alkhobar on Sunday night that the embassy’s request for a mobile registration center in the Eastern Province had been turned down again by the host government.
Although the Philippine Overseas Absentee Voting Act allows registration and voting only inside Philippine embassies and consulates abroad, the Commission on Election had allowed the setting up of mobile registration centers upon the clamor of overseas Filipino communities.
Roldan said Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla made an extra effort to ask the Saudi government to allow at least a temporary registration center, to no avail.
Vice Consul Adrian Elmer Cruz also confirmed that the host government made it clear that the registration of Filipino voters should be made only at the embassy premises in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah.
Cruz urged all Filipinos in the Kingdom who are qualified to vote to proceed to the embassy in Riyadh or the consulate in Jeddah to register from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30.
Also last Friday, Cruz visited Alkhobar together with Vice Consuls Germinia Aguilar-Usudan and Romulo Victor Israel Jr. to brief the community leaders on the registration starting Friday.
Usudan explained that OFWs should bring as basic requirements during the registration their original passport or iqama and other alternative documents as proof of identity.
