MANILA, 27 March 2006 — The registration of Filipino absentee voters in Saudi Arabia has more than doubled this month in all three sites authorized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
A report by the DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat showed that from 542 registrants throughout the Kingdom in February, the figure increased to 1,336 so far this month.
Of the total, 631 registered at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, 522 at the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, and 183 in Alkhobar.
The number is expected to increase further as the embassy and consulate are sending separate mobile teams out of town to conduct registration campaigns on March 30 and 31.
The embassy will be conducting registration at the Al Bustan Hotel in Alkhobar, simultaneously with the Embassy-on-Wheels consular outreach program.
Registration will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 30 and from 8 a.m. to 12 noon on March 31.
In the western industrial city of Yanbu, a team from the consulate in Jeddah will hold office temporarily at the Radisson SAS Hotel from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 30 and from 9 a.m. to 12 noon on March 31.
Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot, who will lead the team, urged Filipinos in Yanbu and nearby places to take advantage of the visit and avoid long queues when the deadline approaches.
Lomondot urged those who were still having doubts in participating to register and exercise their right to vote.
In next year’s elections, overseas voters will be allowed to vote for the 12 Senate seats up for grabs and party-list representatives.
Requirements
Lomondot said the final day of accepting applications for registration, certification as overseas absentee voter (OAV), and transfer of voting registration record from other posts to Jeddah is on Aug. 31.
OAV applicants are advised to present their original valid Philippine passport.
For those who cannot present their original passports (that is, under the custody of the employer), applicants must submit a photocopy of the passport and any supporting documents, such as Philippine driver’s license, SSS card, employment card, birth certificate, marriage contract, or other documents to prove their identity.
Worldwide Registration
As of March 23, the total worldwide registration climbed to 35,096 from the February figure of 20,407. The OAV Secretariat said this is only about one percent of the OFW population and less than half a percentage of the Filipino population abroad.
The 1,366 total registrants in Saudi Arabia accounted for 46 percent of the total Middle East registration of 2,862.
In the Asia Pacific area, Hong Kong still had the most number of registrants with 29 percent or 860 out of 3,036. Kuala Lumpur had 26 percent or 795.
California had the highest registration at 56 percent of the USA total. The total for the entire Americas, including Canada, was 4,734.
Italy claimed 35 percent or 999 out of the total Europe figure of 2,843. Great Britain was a close second with 21 percent or 592.
Most of the registrants, however, signed up even before leaving the Philippines, according to the OAV Secretariat.
At the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) satellite office, there were 14,262 registrants while at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) satellite office there were 7,368 more.
Registration at these two sites constituted 62 percent or 21,630 of the total figure of 31,096.
