RIYADH: Philippine Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor said Tuesday that he is waiting to see if the Saudi government would allow mobile absentee-voter (OAV)registration drives for OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) in the Kingdom.
If this permission is not approved, then the drive that is scheduled to being Feb. 1 will require those seeking to participate in the 2010 national elections to register at either the embassy in Riyadh or the consulate in Jeddah.
Villamor said that he is appealing to the Saudi authorities to allow mobile units to be present "in places where there are big concentration of OFWs, so that there would be more OFWs who could register."
The ambassador said that holding the registration at the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah only would exclude many OFWs who would be unable to make the trip to these two locations.
"If they don't agree then we have to follow the rule that registration will be conducted (only) at the embassy premises," Villamor said.
Meanwhile, members of the PPP (Pangmundong Partidong Pilipino, or Global Filipino Party) met on Tuesday with officials from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh to discuss the forthcoming voter registration drive, which was rescheduled from Dec. 1, 2008 to Feb. 1, 2009.
The forum, attended by Vice Consul and Third Secretary Roussell Reyes, along with about 50 PPP members from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam and Al-Khobar, discussed the launching of an election-awareness and registration campaign.
"But while the PPP will help drum up interest among OFWs to go out and register on Feb. 1, 2009, its members will not be in any way involved in the actual voting in 2010. They will assist only as members of their respective community groups," said Carlito L. Astillero, president of the Riyadh chapter of the PPP.
Astillero said that the meeting was conceived to avoid the relatively low turnout form 2007, which was blamed on lack of awareness.
By Rudy Estimo Jr.
© Arab News 2008
