Elections

120,000 new OFW registrants set to participate in 2010 polls

The efforts of the media and other organizations to spread the word about the elections did not go to waste. It was reported that around 120,000 OFWs officially registered for the elections. This comes as a welcome development showing that Filipinos working abroad are now eager to participate in the exercise. This latest figure for the overseas absentee voting or OAV was reported by the Commission on Elections. This is not the final figure though, since the Comelec shared that the deadline for registration is on August 31. As of February, there are exactly 120,139 new registrants under the OAV. With the 120,000 new registrants, there are now over half a million Filipinos working abroad that will participate in the elections.

The bulk of the new registrants were Filipinos living and working in the United States with 19,259 and this is followed by China with 12,419. Two countries in the Middle East, United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were next two countries on the list. The list for the new registrants is expected to grow more since this is the presidential elections, and because Filipinos are getting more interested in the way the elections is shaping up. In an interview, Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said that their office is hoping that at least one million Filipino migrants can register in time for the 2010 elections.

Comelec recently tied up with other agencies in order to intensify its drive for more registrants. Just this week, the office signed an agreement with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration or the OWWA and the Department of Foreign Affairs DFA to set-up a booth at the OWWA reintegration center building in Manila that can serve as a pre-departure registration center. This move will surely bring the office to the busy Filipino OFWs on the go. With this move, the Comelec is targeting the 1,200 overseas Filipino workers that attend the pre-departure orientation seminar at the OWWA office daily. With the booth within the facility, interested persons can simply walk up to the booth and register for the elections. This was not the only registration satellite office that was set-up by Comelec in its move to increase new registrants. The office also set up a booth at the NAIA and the POEA.