OFWs may register for absentee voting before going abroad

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to allow overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to register as absentee voters before leaving the country to enable them to vote in the 2013 polls.

Comelec is considering setting up registration booths in the country’s international airports to allow OFWs to register before their departure.

Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco said they plan to put up field registration centers to encourage more OFWs to register and participate in absentee voting.

“We are setting up field registrations in our international airports and even at the Department of Foreign Affairs,” Velasco disclosed.

“We need to register them (OFWs) before they leave so that they would no longer register in their host countries,” he added.

Velasco said the Comelec would first coordinate with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and other concerned government agencies to implement the plan.

“We will coordinate with the proper agencies such as POEA, and also international airports so they could register without any problem,” Velasco explained.

Velasco said the poll body intends to set up the registration booth in the different international airports early next year.

He said the Comelec had been operating field and mobile registration centers in countries in the Middle East where there are many OFWs.

He also explained that they are targeting areas where OFWs may be scattered and unable to leave their work places to go to the embassies. When these are identified, he said embassy personnel will be the ones to go to register these OFWs.

Velasco said the Comelec hopes to meet the target of one million OFWs participating in the absentee voting in 2013 once the field and mobile registration program is implemented.

Overseas Absentee Voting registration period started last Nov. 2 and will run until Oct. 31, 2012.