The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates said Filipino organizations are needed to help meet the target number of registrants before the deadline of registration in October.
In a report of the news site Gulf News, Vice-Consul Geronimo Suliguin said: “We are encouraging the Filipino organizations under Filcom-DNE (Filipino Community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates) to set a date to organize themselves into a group of 150 or 200 people. For example, if one group in Jebel Ali can accomplish that, then we will bring the OAVR there.”
For the 2013 polls, Suliguin said they are targeting 12,000 registrants by the end of the registration period in October – and 4,000 by end of April.
More than half of some 600,000 Filipino expatriates in the UAE reside in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
By tapping Filipino groups for the OAV registration, the consulate hopes to avoid a repeat of what happened in the 2010 polls, when Filipinos flooded their office for the voter registration in the last two to three months before the deadline.
There are presently 99 Filipino organizations accredited by the Philippine consulate. They are members of the Filcom-DNE.
OAVR allows Filipinos abroad to register to vote in absentia in the May 2013 midterm elections, where local officials and senators are to be elected.
According to Gulf News, some 2,000 Filipinos have registered their intention to participate in the coming polls in the past six months since the registration began.
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