JEDDAH, 28 March 2004 — The Philippine Consulate General here yesterday said registered absentee voters need not hurry to get their voter’s ID if they have no other business to do at the consulate.
Officials made the statement amid a rush by members of the community to get their voter’s ID in a bid to beat the last day of issuance.
Vice Consul Jose Jacob, the principal officer of the consulate, told Arab News that the suspension of the issuance of voter IDs would be for the duration of the absentee voting, which will be from April 11 to May 10.
Jacob said they have made the decided so that the consulate staff could concentrate on the voting process.
“We don’t have enough staff to handle the distribution,” Jacob said in a telephone interview.
Land-based workers will begin voting from April 11 until May 10 for the Philippine president, vice president, 12 senators and a party-list representative. The voting period of seafarers started on March 12 and will continue until May 10.
Some OFWs urged the consulate to reconsider its plan.
Chris Cortez said “the consulate should not back away from what they are supposed to do, and that is serving the needs of OFWs.”
Taha Guinomla, the consulate’s administrative officer, explained that they were not running away from their duty. He said the consulate staff simply cannot handle the distribution of IDs and conduct the election at the same time.
“We will resume issuance of IDs after May 11 when our staff will be free of their election duties,” he said.
Guinomla said that the consulate has twenty-four staff designated as Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI’s) and they will all be utilized in the election process. He further said that they are exploring the possibility of opening a separate window at the consulate (after April 12) that will be dedicated to issuing the IDs. But he explained that this is subject to availability of staff and approval of the Commission on election, not to mention the fund needed.
As of yesterday, the consulate has issued 9,746 IDs, or approximately 32 percent of over 30,000 registered voters in the Western Region.
Guinomla said the OFWs will be allowed to vote even if they don’t have a voter’s ID. “If your name appears on the Certified List of Overseas Absentee Voters (CLOAVs), or what I call the ‘supreme document.’ With or without the ID, you can vote.”
Guinomla said that the list is readily available at the consulate. OFWs can verify if their names are included in the list.
OFWs whose names do not appear on the list have to write their local election registrar for verification.
Only when the local registrar verifies and certifies that the particular OFW is a registered voter that he can vote, otherwise he won’t be allowed to vote even if he has registered.
Guinmola said that, so far, they have encountered 20 OFWs whose names were not on the CLOAVs.
None of the 45 seafarers who registered in the Western Region have come to vote.
Victor Zaire, secretary of Bin Mahfouz Company, insisted that the ID itself is precious to any registered voter, especially those with little time to spare. “There are those who want to both to collect their ID and vote at the same time,” he said.
