DUBAI: Registered overseas Filipino voters start trooping to the Philippine Embassy and Consulate on April 13 as they cast their votes in the Philippines’ midterm election where 12 Senate seats and one in the lower house are at stake.
This as Ambassador Hjayceelyn Quintana and Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes urged the overseas Filipino electorate in the UAE to exercise their right to vote for the future of the nation.
Said Quintana: “As overseas Filipinos, your vote is significant and important because this would have an impact on you and your families back home.”
“I enjoin all registered voters in Abu Dhabi to cast their vote for their senators and party-list representative during the overseas voting period from April 13 to May 13 (except April 18 and 19) at their designated precincts at the embassy.
“I also hope that they cast their votes as soon as they get an opportunity to do so,” she said.
As well, Cortes in his message, said, “the voices of the global diaspora of Filipinos must be heard especially as choosing our leaders and strategizing the trajectory of our national soul is concerned.”
He said working abroad, overseas Filipinos have lived different perspectives of governance and civil society engagement. “Surely, they have seen how things work in other countries and what may and may not be useful as far as our domestic policies and legislation is concerned,” the consul general said.
“For far too long,” Cortes said, “we have always relegated the overseas Filipinos as contributors to our economy in terms of remittances. The narrative of the overseas Filipino and the contributions to nation building must evolve.
Voter turn out in the first day seemed promising as voters queued in as the stations opened at 8am to cast their ballots.
A high voter turnout is anticipated, noting the 85% increase in the number of voters, officials said.
