90-year-old Pinay in Italy registers for overseas voting

MANILA, Philippines — A 90-year-old former carinderia owner is among the newly registered overseas voters in Italy, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday.

The DFA said the Philippine Consulate General in Milan registered 56 new voters in Turin on May 18, including Remedios Reyes, who was born in Malate, Manila in December 1924.

Reyes was brought to Austria by her grandchildren in the 1980s and later settled in Turin.

During her registration, Reyes was accompanied by her granddaughter, Myra Joyce Reyes, an overseas Filipino worker who came to Italy in 2001. 

Fondly called "Nanany" by her family, Reyes was once a seamstress in Pasay who later opened her own carinderia and magazine shop.

Asked about Reyes' secret to long life, her granddaughter said "Nanay" was active in church and social clubs and also remains  a Nazarene devotee.

Reyes has six grandchildren, five great grandchildren and two great, great grandchildren, the youngest of whom is two months old.

The DFA said her registration brings the Consulate's total number of registered and revalidated voters to 255 since the start of overseas voters registration on May 6. - Louis Bacani