Overseas voter registration increasing

MANILA, Philippines — Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) continue to register as is showed tremendous increase after the 2016 national elections.

The Department of Foreign Affairs – Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS) in a press statement noted the increase during after four months of accepting new registrants.

Overseas voter registration started last December 1, 2016 and will end on September 30, 2018.
For the past four months, a record high of 105,333 new OV registrants against 105, 048 the same period in during 2014-2015 registration drive.

The overseas voter registration in preparation for the 2016 elections netted a cumulative total of 1,376,067 active registered overseas voters.

The 826,881 new registrants for the 2016 elections, was more than a 100 percent increase over the 398,554 new registrants compared to the 2013 elections.

Of the almost 1.4 million registered overseas voters, 590,440 were in the Middle East and Africa, 334,215 in the

Asia Pacific, 263,316 in the Americas, 138,757 in Europe, and 49,339 were Seabased.

The attainable target for this registration period is 1.1 million OV registrants, which would net a cumulative total of 2,130,000 active registered voters for the coming national elections.
“This is once again an evidence of the hard-work and dedication of the men and women of our Foreign Service who are aggressively campaigning to encourage more overseas Filipinos to participate in this on-going electoral exercise. ” said Undersecretary Ariel Y. Abadilla, chairperson of the DFA-OVS.

He added “Our media partners and other OV stakeholders are also playing a vital role in disseminating overseas voting awareness among our kababayans abroad.”
All Filipino citizens who expect to be abroad from April 13 – May 13, 2019 during the overseas voting period for the 2019 Elections, at least 18 years old on May 13, 2019, and not otherwise disqualified by law, may register as an overseas voter, at all Philippine Foreign Service Posts including the three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO) in Taiwan and Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Al-Khobar. (for an updated list please go to www.dfa-oavs.gov.ph or www.comelec.gov.ph). (PNA)