116,000 absentee voters get Comelec’s nod

By Marie Surbano

07/02/2009

Only 15 percent of the totaled 115,635 applicants for overseas absentee voting (OAV) had been approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) committee on overseas absentee voting (COAV).

James Jimenez, spokesman for Comelec admitted that the resident election registration board (RERB) of the COAV has approved a “bit low” figure for overseas absentee voting or only 17,061 applicants out of the more than 115,000 voters.

He said that while the figure of applicants approved was low, the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and migrants lining up in the more than 180 Philippine posts and consulates was “very encouraging.”

“As of June 26, we have a total of 115, 635 OAV registrants. The number, which is reasonably high, considering a range of unavoidable limitations overseas-is very encouraging. It motivates us further to heighten our coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs and overseas Filipino groups worldwide to step up our campaign to encourage wider electoral participation among our compatriots abroad,” Jimenez added.

Citing records, Jimenez said United States posted the highest number of registrants with 18,785 followed by China with 12,397, United Arab Emirates with 8,210, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with 6,443, Singapore with 4,843, Canada with 4,514; United Kingdom with 4,216; Japan with 3,909 and Italy with 3,055 applicants.

Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, chairman of the COAV, in a separate interview said they expect the numbers of new applicants to further increase in the remaining month.

With barely two months left, Ferrer remains optimistic of hitting the one-million target for overseas absentee voting.

In the last 2007 elections, there were a total of 504,110 registered overseas absentee voters (OAV).

The OAV registration started last February 1 and will end on August 31, 2009.

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