DFA hopeful 1 M new overseas voters to register for 2016

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs’ Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS) is confident that the government can still reach its goal of registering one million new overseas voters for the 2016 elections despite the recent suspension of registration in five strife-torn countries.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has suspended the overseas voter registration in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and the Gaza Strip due to the deteriorating security situation in these areas.

But DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who chairs the DFA-OVS, said the goal of registering one million new overseas voters for the 2016 presidential elections is still “attainable.”

“At the current pace of registration, we could have an overseas voter stock of over two million for the 2016 presidential elections. Attaining this goal can definitely be a game changer,” he added.

Last June, the Foreign Service Posts processed 20,039 new applications. This was a 7.5 percent increase from 18,631 last May. There are 1,013,933 overseas voters to date, the DFA said.

The agency opened the first Overseas Voter Registration Center in the Philippines at the ASEANA Business Park along Macapagal Avenue in Parañaque City last June, while the second OVRC at the Commission on Filipinos Overseas along Pres. Quirino Ave. in Paco, Manila was opened on Aug. 1.

The DFA urged OFWs, immigrants and seafarers who are about to leave for abroad to register at the new facilities.

“If said registrants need to renew their passports, they no longer have to set an appointment to apply for renewal. Their Overseas Voter Registration stub will allow them access to the Passport Division’s Courtesy Lane,” the DFA said.

The Comelec, meanwhile, is set to pilot test online registration in all districts of Quezon City and hopes to also do it in Hong Kong and Singapore where many Filipinos work.

Covered are registration and applications for transfer and reactivation of registration and correction of entries in the registration records. The Comelec is yet to announce the start of the online registration.

The poll body is also looking at the possibility of implementing Internet voting for overseas voters. It has been studying possible voting systems for overseas voters and the use of the Internet stands out as the most feasible system. – With Sheila Crisostomo