Pinoys abroad begin casting ballots in month-long OAV for 2016 polls

Filipinos abroad started casting their ballots on Saturday as the month-long overseas absentee voting (OAV) process for the 2016 polls began at various Philippine embassies around the world.
A total of 1,376,067 Filipinos have registered for the OAV, where voters can pick candidates for national positions—president, vice president and senators, as well as party-list groups. 
In Malaysia, voting began at 9 a.m., and that the Philippine Embassy there is expecting 80 percent of the 19,000 registered voters to participate in the polls this year..
Overseas Filipino voters may cast their ballots using the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs), personal manual voting, or postal manual voting system.
"We are happy and pleased with it. It was very easy to cast one's ballot compared to before,” Ambassador Jose Eduardo Malaya III said.
Malaya is one of the first-day voters in Malaysia. He encouraged every Filipino there to vote.
Meanwhile, in  Dubai, Philippine Consul Ferdinand Flores said there are more voters this year compared to the number in the 2013 elections.
The 11 VCMs used at the embassy worked perfectly well, Flores said.
On the other hand, only 50 of the 37,000 registered voters in Milan, Italy cast their ballots on the first day.
Among the first-day voters was the Philippine Consulate General in Milan, Consul General Marichu Mauro.
In France, only a  few turned up at the Philippine Embassy to cast their ballots.
According to embassy official, some of the voters did not receive their election ballots due to some reasons, including wrong addresses.
“Yung mga kababayan natin na very mobile we know they could change address. 'Pag hindi na-inform po ang embahada ng Comelec, maari po na ang inyong ballot ay naipadala sa previous address,” First Secretary and Consul for France Jesus Garcia said.
Meanwhile, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma lauded the first day of the OAV.
“Naging matagumpay ang pagsisimula ng pagboto ng humigit-kumulang 1.38 milyong migranteng Pilipino o overseas Filipinos sa iba’t ibang panig ng mundo. Nakikiisa po tayo sa COMELEC sa kanilang hangarin na mas maraming bilang ng ating mga kababayan sa ibang bansa ang lumahok sa halalan at itaguyod ang kanilang karapatang bumoto,” Coloma said.
The month-long OAV process will end on May 9, coinciding with date of the local and national elections in the Philippines. — Kiersnerr Gerwin Tacadena/LBG/RSJ, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more