OFWs send money home to flood victims

Their hearts never far away from home, Filipino communities around the world continue to send aid to compatriots displaced by massive flooding in Metro Manila and adjacent Luzon provinces earlier this month.

The Philippine Embassy and the Filipino community in Paris, France, recently sent a 2,000-euro (roughly P100,000) donation to the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help relief operations for victims of recent flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The Association of Government Accountants in Guam donated $500 (about P20,000) to the Philippine Red Cross to augment resources in relief services for monsoon floods.

Flooding has yet to subside in parts of Laguna, Pampanga and Bulacan after heavy monsoon rains triggered extensive inundation earlier this month.

Foreign governments, including the United States, Australia, Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Union, have sent aid to assist in emergency services following the Luzon floods.

Overseas registration

As government pursues its campaign to widen participation in Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) among migrant Filipinos, the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong declared a “milestone” this month as registered absentee voters in the city reached 10,000.

Citing data from the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said OAV registration doubled in just over a month, from 5,265 registrants in July 1 this year to the current total of 10,012.

Magdalena Cachola, who registered on Aug. 21 as the 10,000th OAV participant in Hong Kong, said she decided to sign up “to have a chance to vote for the country’s deserving leaders,” according to the DFA.

The number, however, is barely 10 percent of the estimated 120,000 to 130,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong.

In southern China, meanwhile, some 77 overseas Filipino workers based in Sanya and Haikou in Hainan province also registered for the OAV this month.

The Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou said the registrants included Filipino hotel staff based in the province.

At least 800,000 Filipinos overseas have so far registered for the OAV, just 200,000 shy of DFA’s target of one-million registrants before the 2013 midterm elections.

In the 2010 presidential elections, only 81,732 of the more than 580,000 OAV registrants voted in polling precincts overseas.

There are over 8.5-million overseas Filipinos, almost half of them overseas contract workers.