The Philippine Embassy has stepped up efforts to register new overseas absentee voters (OAV) in the lead-up to the nationwide elections in 2016. This has been evident in its widespread registering of new absentee voters during its ongoing Embassy on Wheels (EOW) outreach programs in various parts of the Kingdom.

“We will go to Filipino schools, hospitals, jobsites and other places during the outreach missions, so that even more Filipinos can register,” Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago, leader of the EOW program, said in an earlier statement.

Last Friday and Saturday, the EOW team conducted an overseas absentee voters registration session in Sakaka, Al-Jouf, in addition to offering regular consular services to all in attendance.

On May 5, the team also conducted a two-day registration at the Al-Jazeera International School in Dammam in injunction with the EOW sessions, during which various consular services were rendered.

The team, headed by Second Secretary and Consul Maria Angelica Genotiva, registered 251 new overseas voters. It also certified 53 registered voters.

Overseas absentee voters in the Kingdom as well as in other countries begun registering Filipinos on May 6, 2014, and will continue until Oct. 31, 2015, at which time registration is due to close.