After low voter turnout in San Francisco, consul urges Pinoys: 'Makialam at makialam'

After the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco in the United States registered a low overseas absentee voting (OAV) turnout — 16 percent — the consul general urged Filipinos to be more politically active.

A Department of Foreign Affairs statement on Tuesday said only 2,846 overseas voters, or only 16 percent of registered voters in its jurisdiction participated in overseas voting at the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco.

“'Exercising your right of suffrage is a testament of your love for the Philippines.  In the years to come, let us encourage more kababayans to become dual citizens and register to become overseas absentee voters.  As I always say, makialam at makialam,'” said Consul General Marciano A. Paynor, Jr.

Voting in other countries

Meanwhile, a total of 606 ballots were received by the Philippine Embassy in Berlin, Germany, according to the DFA on Wednesday.

With a total number of 2,615 Filipino voters in that country, 23 percent of them exercised their right to suffrage.

The Philippine Embassy in Rome, Italy, too, reported developments in OAV, and on Tuesday the DFA in a statement said that 50 seafarers voted on May 5 at the Port of Civitavecchia.

The 50 people compose roughly 62.5 percent of registered seafarers at the port.

The Philippine Embassy in Rome has also encouraged Filipino crewmembers this early to register for the next elections at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in Manila or at any Philippine Foreign Service Post worldwide.

Zero votes

On Wednesday, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Lucenito Tagle reported 26 overseas absentee voting centers so far that generated zero votes in the 2013 polls.

Tagle, the chairperson of of Comelec's OAV committee, said that small numbers of registered voters in the countries may explain the zero votes.

The countries with zero votes are as follows, listed with their number of registered voters:
Colombia - 6
Netherlands Antilles - 5
Suriname - 5
Venezuela - 350
Costa Rica - 4
El Salvador - 4
Honduras - 14
Dominican Republic - 22
Panama - 7
Ecuador - 5
Peru - 8
Bulgaria - 2
Bosnia and Herzegowina - 2
Estonia - 1
Latvia - 1
Burundi - 1
Congo - 128
Madagascar - 223
Malawi - 2
Mauritius - 6
Rwanda - 1
Somalia - 3
Eritrea - 28
Djibouti - 43
Zambia - 241
Macedonia -10

Gian C. Geronimo, VVP, GMA News