DFA presses drive for overseas voting

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has directed the country’s 67 embassies and 23 consulates abroad to intensify further their respective Overseas Absentee Voters (OAV) registration programs.

Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, on Wednesday said “our diplomatic posts continue to exert all possible efforts to increase the number of OAV registrants and voters for the 2013 national elections.”

So far, a total of 23,693 overseas Filipinos have registered as OAVs, according to DFA records.

In a report posted on its website, the DFA said Philippine nationals based in Los Angeles, California, topped the list of OAV registrants with 2,404, followed by those in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1,441; Tel Aviv, Israel, 1,427; Milan, Italy, 1,299; London, 1,115; Hong Kong, 1,017; San Francisco, California, 952; Singapore, 874; Macau, 834; and Toronto, Canada, 776.

Rounding up the top 20 places were Filipino communities in Barcelona, Spain, 699; Beirut, Lebanon, 627; New York, 608; Chicago, 600; Vancouver, 491; Manama, Bahrain, 476; Honolulu, Hawaii, 474; Washington, D.C., 388; Tokyo, 361; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 354.

By region, the Americas registered the highest number of OAVs with 7,538 followed by the Middle East and Africa, 6,239: Europe, 5,238; and Asia and the Pacific, 4,588.

According to Hernandez, “our foreign service posts have touched base with Filipino communities and local nongovernment organizations, civil society groups, as well as church and other Filipino groups.”

“They also issued press releases and launched multimedia campaigns, using various social networking sites,” he added.

The 12-month OAV registration runs from Oct. 31, 2011 to Oct. 31 this year.

Originally posted at 01:40 pm | Wednesday, February 22,  2012