2nd field overseas voting for Filipinos in Deira

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Due to demand, the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai (PCGDXB) shall conduct a second field overseas voting (OV) for Manila’s May 13 mid-term elections on April 26 and 27 in Deira.

The Friday-Saturday OV is a follow-up of the first field OV held on Monday at the Asiana Hotel in Muraqqabat.

“We had a good turn-out of voters. We are going to have one again (this weekend),” whatsapped Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes on Monday night to the media group accredited by the Philippines’ elections body, the Commission on Elections, for the April 13 to May 13 news coverage.

Feedback indicated that registered Filipino voters appreciated the move of the PCGDXB to reach out to them.

They claimed the diplomatic mission, located in Al Qusais, which remains open until 9 p.m. every day for the April 13 to May 13 elections exercise, is “far and remote considering the few public transportation available in the evenings.”

Many expressed hope the voting hours be extended until 10 p.m. They floated the idea of having other field OVs in other public places like the malls.

This weekend, the registered Filipino voters are advised to double check their names on the Comelec Certified List of Voters for Dubai and the Northern Emirates through www.dubaipcg.gov.ph to fast track their entry into the three polling stations at the Dynasty Ballroom of the Asiana Hotel for the 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. elections exercise.

They are reminded to bring their valid Philippine passports and Emirates identification cards for “identification purposes” and for the vote.

Certified list of voters from Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah for the 2019 legislative-general OV is at 209,862 or 87,677 more than the 122,185 registered voters for the 2016 presidential-national OV.

On Tuesday, Cortes said, “I urge our fellow Filipinos to cast their votes and participate in nation-building.”

On the first day of the OV on April 13, he told newsmen that to reach out to the 2016 OV numbers, that meant 1,000 voters going to the PCGDXB every day aside from the field OVs conducted that year.

Manila’s May 13 elections carries the theme “Malayang Halalan” (“Free Elections”): “Patibayin Ang Ating Demokrasya, Ating Karapatan at Katungkulan” (“Strengthen Our Democracy, Rights, and Duty”).