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MANILA, Philippines—With less than two months to go before the deadline for registration for overseas absentee voting, Filipino Americans are reminded that they have only until August 31, 2009 to do so.
The number of Filipinos and dual citizens who have enlisted for the general elections next year is still way below the one million target. According to the OAV Secretariat of the Department of Foreign Affairs, as of June 30, only a total of 118,703 have registered.
By country, the United States has the most OAV registrants (19,113), followed by China (12,411), the United Arab Emirates (8,339), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (6,705), Singapore (5,128), Canada (4,815), Taiwan 4,707, United Kingdom (4,289), Japan (3,997), and Italy (3,071).
By region, Asia and the Pacific takes the biggest slice (32,399), followed by the Americas (24,068), Middle East (22,069), and Europe (13,842). The registration centers at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration also registered a number (15,250), as well as those at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (9,655) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (1,420).
In San Francisco, California, the US Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce is reminding Filipinos and FilAms with dual citizenship to register before the deadline.
Yolanda Stern, federation president emeritus and convenor and champion of the theh Citizenship Reacquisition Act and the Overseas Absentee Voting Act, said voters today can truly vote in absentia.
Here are some important reminders on OAV registration:
* Those with dual citizenship may register using their Philippine passport and the certified order of approval or oath of allegiance.
* For those who immigrated to the US prior to the 1991 Immigration Reform Act and became a naturalized US citizen, they can reacquire their Philippine citizenship by applying for a Philippine passport to be a dual citizen.
* If they came to the US as a visitor and overstayed, they are still Filipino citizens, and can renew their passport and register to vote.
Only the following are disqualified from registering: Those who lost their Filipino citizenship and did not reacquire it, those who have a criminal conviction punishable by imprisonment of not less than a year, and those legally declared insane or incompetent of mind.
More information on OAV registration is available at the Commission on Elections website on OAV registration and continuing registration.
With reports from Esther Chavez
