The Philippine Commission on Elections (Comelec) has extended the deadline for the transfer of the registration for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from August 31 to September 30.
James Jimenez , Comelec spokesman, said that over the weekend the Commission moved the deadline which coincides with the local voter registration deadline.
Jimenez said the Commission recognizes the need to prevent the disenfranchisement of a great “number of our kababayans (fellow citizens) who have been unexpectedly repatriated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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He said the OFWs can exercise their right of suffrage by casting their ballot here and the repatriated workers may file their application for transfer of registration records from overseas to the Philippines with the Office of the Election Officer (OEO) nearest to them.
“The following types of applications that will still be accepted by the OEOs are the transfer from post to the same city/municipality/district and transfer from post to a city/municipality/district other than their voter’s residence as indicated in overseas voter form (OV) No. 1,” he said, adding that the such applications will no longer be accepted by the Comelec Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) in Intramuros, Manila and the local field registration centers.
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Jimenez said the OFOV and local field registration centers will only accept applications for “registration/certification, recapture of biometrics, transfer from post to post or from country to country, reinstatement, change of name due to marriage or court order/correction of entries, reactivation, change of address within the same post and country, updating of photograph and/or signature, and request to withdraw the application for registration/certification pending approval.”
The Department of Labor and Employment has said that more than 640,000 of the estimated 800,000 OFWs who were displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic have already been repatriated and transported back to their home provinces. (AW)
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