Villar urges DFA to extend assistance to Filipino voters abroad

Nacionalista Party-Team Pnoy senatorial candidate Cynthia Villar today urged Philippine embassy and consulate personnel abroad to extend all possible assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) as they exercise their right of suffrage under the overseas absentee voting (oav) starting on Saturday, April 13.

“We urge all officials and personnel in Philippine embassies and consulate offices abroad  to go out of their way and extend all forms of assistance they can give to the more than 900,000 Filipinos abroad who are qualified to vote under the absentee voting law,” Villar said.

Villar, a former Las Pinas Congresswoman, said she and her husband, Senator Manny Villar, have been long-time advocates of granting Filipinos aboard to the right to participate in national elections.

“We are aware that in past elections, many of our workers aboard who are qualified absentee voters were not able to vote due to several problems in their working places,” Villar said.  “We are hoping that in this elections, more and more Filipinos aboard will be able to vote and exercise their duty in selecting the leaders of this country.”

At the same time, Villar said Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) personnel should see to it that the conduct of the overseas absentee vote should be honest and orderly in order to maintain the integrity of the process.

“Allowing our OFWs to participate in our elections is one significant way we can acknowledge their contribution to the country,” Villar explain. “They are our modern-day heroes and it is still through their remittances that the Philippine economy has remained upfloat.”

Villar said she was satisfied with the preparation and information conducted jointly by the Comelec and DFA but added that she would not be surprised of last-minutes problems would still arise in various polling centers for Filipino abroad.

Under the Overseas Absentee voting Act, Villar said, Filipino officials posted in embassies and consulate offices were mandated to extend all forms of assistance to encourage overseas Filipinos to make use of their voting right and to help them overcome problems in registering and casting their ballots.

Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said some 900,000 Filipinos abroad are set to cast their absentee votes starting Saturday and that the pill body had completed preparations for the conduct of the overseas absentee voting.

Tagle, chairman of the Comelec’s Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (COAV) said the first to vote using the automated machines are Filipinos in Hong Kong, followed by Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates..

OAV is set to be held on Sunday at the Bayanihan Center in Victoria Road, Kennedy Town and at the Philippine embassy on D3 Collector Road C Diplomatic, Riyadh. Filipinos in the UAE will vote at the Philippine embassy on Al Bateen, Abu Dhabi.

Tagle said they have scheduled on Thursday the FTS at the Philippine embassy in Singapore on Nassim Road and the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai on Al Quasis Area 3. On Friday, the FTS will be at the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah on the Rehab District and Philippine embassy in Kuwait on Faiha.

The Comelec opted to hold automated polls in areas where there’s a large concentration of Filipinos. Comelec records showed Hong Kong has 83,118 voters; 50,063 in Singapore; 55,842 in Dubai; 30,328 in Jeddah; 30,468 in Kuwait; 53,396 in Riyadh; and 21,645 in Abu Dhabi.

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