By Vir B. Lumicao
 |
| OVR applicants cause long queues to the Consulate on Sundays |
This coming Tuesday, Aug 31, will be the last day to
transfer back to the Philippines the overseas
voter records of Filipinos abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs - Overseas
Voting Secretariat has said in a press release.
The DFA-OVS issued the reminder as it encouraged all Filipinos abroad, including those in Hong Kong, to register as overseas voters on or before Sept 30 if they will remain overseas by May 9 next year.
Filipinos who find it difficult to travel to the Consulate to register or attend to voter record concerns may avail themselves of the virtual frontline services offered by the Comelec-Office for Overseas Voting, the DFA-OVS said.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The VFS pertains only to transactions where the applicant has existing voter registration records with complete biometric data such as:
- Certification
as an overseas voter (for those with existing voter records in the
- Reactivation
of overseas voter registration records;
- Updating
of addresses and contact information; and
- Transfer
of voting records between different international locations and from
overseas back to the
 |
| Call us! |
VFS applicants can fill up their application form, OVF-1, by using the i-Rehistro system on Comelec’s website https://irehistro.comelec.gov.ph/irehistro/ovf1 and submit the scanned copy of their duly accomplished OVF-1 to Comelec-OFOV, the DFA-OVS said.
With just six weeks to go before the Sept 30 registration
deadline, the Sunday crowd at the Consulate continues to swell.
 |
| Consulate staff struggle to cope each Sunday |
Last Sunday, Aug 22, the PCG public hall was more crowded than usual, with hundreds of OV registrants, passport applicants and Filipinos with other transactions lined up for assistance throughout the day.
At noontime, about 80 people formed a serpentine queue in front of the OVR windows alone. About double that number lined up three abreast in the alleys on the second-floor lift lobby of the building, waiting for their turn to go up to the Consulate.
 |
| SUNDAN ITO PARA MAKASALI! |
Filipino community leader Marites Nuval said the big crowd started to form before the Consulate opened its gate at 8am to the registrants. Nuval estimated that by noon, she had sent up some 300 in batches of 10.
She said multitudes of registrants had descended on the Consulate since the last Sunday of July as voters tried to beat the registration deadline.
People who were at the front of the second-floor queue said they were there since 10am. Others who were about 10 meters down the line said they arrived around 11am.
 | |
The PCG has not released the cumulative number of people who have registered so far since the exercise began on Dec 6, 2019.
Consul General Raly Tejada had said previously about 200 people registered each Sunday for the past two months, but the number has noticeably gone up since.
Consul Bob Quintin, who is in charge of election affairs, had said previously the number of registrants for the 2022 national elections may fall short of the figure in the voter registration before the 2016 elections.
This is due to the impact of events in
 |
| PADALA NA! |
 |
| CALL US NOW! |
