DFA: Overseas voting off to smooth start

MANILA, Philippines - Over 4,000 Filipino migrant workers were able to vote on the first day of voting under the overseas absentee voting scheme held over the weekend at various Philippine diplomatic missions abroad.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said a total of 4,141 Filipinos working overseas were able to vote without any glitches last Saturday.

The DFA’s Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat reported yesterday that the Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong had the most number of Filipino voters at 997.

The Philippine embassy in London came in second with 558 votes while the Philippine embassy in Riyadh had 266.

The Philippine consulate general in Chicago had a turnout of 242 Filipinos casting their votes, followed by the Philippine embassy in Singapore with 218.

The consulate general in Jeddah reported that 180 Filipinos came to cast their votes while the Philippine embassy in Berlin had 144. The embassy in the Spanish capital of Madrid had 135 voters.

The Philippine embassy in Bangkok had 118 followed closely by the country’s consulate general in Barcelona, Spain with 117 voters.

The DFA-OAVS said the first day of the voting went smoothly in most, if not all, of the overseas precincts monitored.

The secretariat said it expects voter turnout to increase on the second day of voting, since it falls on a Sunday, the usual day-off of overseas Filipino workers.

In a report to the DFA, Consul General to Hong Kong Claro Cristobal said the first-ever elections under the new Automated Election System (AES) began in Hong Kong with an ecumenical prayer service followed by the blessing of all 10 rooms where the 20 precinct clusters at the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Center are located.

The precincts opened at exactly 8:00 a.m. Voters started the process of voting by checking with the bank of seven computerized voter search terminals manned by volunteers to locate their respective precincts.

As voters made their way to their precincts on the upper floors of the voting center, marshals were on hand to provide assistance.

The first Filipino to vote in Hong Kong was Rowena de la Cruz. It took her roughly one-and-a-half minutes to complete the process of voting for a president, a vice president, 12 senators and a party-list organization.

But 17 would-be voters were unable to find their names on the Certified List of Overseas Absentee Voters (CLOAV). The helpdesk constituted by the consulate general immediately informed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila regarding the missing names.

Voting in Hong Kong will run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Mondays to Fridays, and 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and Hong Kong statutory holidays until May 10.

The overseas absentee voting in all embassies and consulates general will end on May 10 at 6:00 p.m. (Manila time).

All votes should be received by the end of the voting period, including those sent through mail.

Daily voting schedules will be at least eight hours a day. Individual embassies and consulates general may adopt a flexible schedule to accommodate the most number of voters.

The Comelec said there are 589,830 registered overseas voters for the May 2010 elections.

The overseas voters will have the opportunity to elect ahead of their countrymen at home the next President, the Vice President, 12 senators and one party-list representative.

The overseas Filipinos could cast their vote through the PCOS machines located in Hong Kong and Singapore, by personal voting or postal voting.

The DFA said voters using the personal and the automated modes of voting should bring their passports or other personal identification documents to facilitate the process.