New OAV registrants now number 71,239, says DFA

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 71,239 overseas Filipinos so far have signed up as overseas absentee voters (OAVs), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday. DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, chairman of the OAV Secretariat, said this was based on the latest tally as of May 12 from Philippine missions abroad. The OAV registration for the 2010 elections, which started February 1, will end on August 31. Of those who registered since February 1, close to only 5,000 so far have been approved by the Commission on Elections. An article on the DFA website (www.dfa.gov.ph) said the 71,239 include 18,934 from Asia and the Pacific; 16,090 from the Americas; 10,271 from Middle East and Africa; and 9,639 from Europe. On the other hand, 16,305 have registered at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) OAV registration centers. The top ten posts, in terms of the number of new OAV registrants are Hong Kong (7,163), Los Angeles (4,859), Dubai (3,343), London (3,203), Singapore (3,162), Toronto (2,757), New York (2,308), Washington DC (1,970), Brunei (1,843), and Riyadh (1,822). By country, the following are the top five: USA, China, United Arab Emirates, Canada, and United Kingdom. "As predicted by Undersecretary Seguis in April, the figures in OAV registration have been increasing steadily as the campaign for the promotion of OAV activities in all Philippine Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) has intensified during the remaining period of OAV registration," the DFA said. The Comelec and DFA are targeting a million new registrants for the current registration period. Overseas Filipinos who have voted during the 2004 and 2007 elections are not required to register again. - GMANews.TV