Absentee vote registration surges

Filipinos abroad have flocked to Philippine embassies and consulates on the last two days of registration for absentee voting, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported yesterday.

Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuason said from 219,722 after 53 days of registration a week ago, the number of registrants surged to almost 300,000 yesterday, and may reach 350,000 today.

"As expected, we have a surge at the last minute," he said. "This is the Filipino habit at work again."

Embassies and consulates may extend their office hours to accommodate those who would like to register, he added.

Tuason said the "optimistic" 350,000 projection is just half of the 800,000 - 1,000,000 overseas Filipinos out of the estimated 1.7 million "potential registrants."

"We have achieved our goals considering the affidavits that we are requiring," he said.

Tuason said they have turned down requests to extend the registration period because they are working in a time frame.

"The requests for extension are coming from calls to text messages, but we cannot grant that anymore," he said.

In Saudi Arabia, 33,000 overseas Filipinos registered to be able to vote, while 70,000 was recorded in Hong Kong on the 53rd day of registration, he added.

Meanwhile, the Comelec said known candidates in next year’s elections appearing in television and print advertisements are not violating any law since the election period has not yet started.

Extravagant campaigns as in print and televisions commercials are banned, the Comelec added.— Jose Aravilla