MANILA – Qualified overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are being encouraged by officials to register to enable them to participate and vote in the presidential elections scheduled in May 2010.
Commissioner Nicodemus Ferrer of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) estimated that there are some five million registered absentee OFW voters worldwide, most of whom are deployed in the Middle East, the US and North America and neighboring Asian countries like Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.
Ferrer reminded the OFWs that registration of absentee voters started on Febuary 1 and is to end on August 31.
The process was to have started first week of January 2009, but this was deferred to February 1 to enable the Comelec to set up the sophisticated machines to help hasten the registration, according to Ferrer.
In the May 2010 polls, the voters are to elect the successor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose term expires next year as mandated by the Constitution as well as other elected officials like congressman, governor, mayor and councilor.
Citing Comelec records, Ferrer noted that close to 48,000 Filipinos participated in the registration of overseas absentee voters in the 2005 and 2006.
He expressed optimism that the turnout in this year’s registration would be significantly higher, based on the initial reports reaching the Comelec central office in Manila.
To aid the OFWs, Ferrer said the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) agreed to simplify the registration process of Filipinos leaving to work abroad.
Under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2005, Ferrer said the Department of Foreign Affairs and the MIAA are required to cooperate and coordinate with the Comelec in order to guarantee the right of suffrage for Filipinos working abroad.
Abroad, Ferrer said voters registration for the qualified OFWs is now being conducted in all the 91 foreign service posts of the Philippines, including the newly-opened ones in Ma cau, China; Oslo, Norway; Barcelona, Spain; Damascus, Syria; and Frankfurt, Germany.
Also, the Comelec official said the OFWs can register at the Philippine Overseas Office in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia and three stations of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan.
Registrants, he said, are required to be present in person and have with them a valid Philippine passport and an accomplished OAV (overseas absentee voter) registration/certification forms.
During the period, Ferrer also said that previous registrants can also file or request the transfer of their registration records.
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NOEL AGUIRRE – 2010 Philippine Potential Presidential Candidate http://www.noelaguirre.com
Greetings!
I have a MISSION to fulfill, NOT an ambition for political interest. Wants to Transform Our Country To Become Self-Reliant. Envisions Prosperity; Abundant Food, Products, Maximum Employment, Peace & Order. To propagate the rice industry & manufacture Philippine made appliances, electronics, automobiles, ships, helicopters, airplanes to maximize utilization of our tremendous unemployed manpower. The Philippines must be a PRODUCER! NOT mere Consumer.
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NOEL AGUIRRE (OFW) – 2010 Philippine Potential Presidential Candidate
NOEL AGUIRRE (OFW) – 2010 Philippine Potential Presidential Candidate “Independent”