DUBAI: The first day of the month-long overseas voting (OV) of the Philippine presidential/national elections saw the continuous flow of voters at the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai (PCGDXB) on Saturday.
Random interviews saw the clamor for change of governance and the desire for the next set of national leaders to prioritize peace and order and address the perennial issues of crime and drugs.
The general atmosphere was light. A sizeable number lingered at the PCGDXB gardens for souvenir photographs and selfies.
A surge of young families with babies or toddlers in tow was observed from 1pm until 4pm.
Reporters estimated the crowd to be over 400 within the first six hours, or a 1,000 per cent rise from the first day figures of the 2013 mid-term or senatorial elections.
Polling precincts were scheduled to open at 8am, but beauty salon workers from Sharjah Analiza Gonzaga, Shadina Pabon and Judith Tecson-Omalay arrived at the consulate premises in Al Qusais three hours earlier because they did not also want to sacrifice their work timings.
Husband and wife Rogelio and Violy Paculan reached there “a bit later”.
As UAE residents for 13 years, it was their first time to participate in the OV, which Manila implemented from 2004, saying their voice must be heard this time.
Two other early birds and first-time voters were Nelson Mandapat and Al Tapasao.
Mandapat did not mind spending over Dhs50 for his taxi fare from Al Quoz because he believes his vote counts.
Tapasao from Sharjah, who has been living in the UAE for 20 years, told The Gulf Today it is time to speak up through the ballot especially so since his house in his home province of Cebu in Central Visayas had been ransacked thrice already.
By 9am, Marissa Dote arrived with her one-and-a half-year-old daughter all the way from Jumeirah.
Living in Dubai for six years, she was also a first-time voter. They were among the first 40 to cast their vote along with Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes.
By 11am, bride Cherry Gomez-Duerme, coming directly from the weekly mass wedding conducted by the PCGDXB, this time shifted for a month at the nearby Philippine Overseas Labour Office, did her civic duty.
“This is the only time available for me now, because my husband (not a registered voter) and I are leaving for a vacation back home,” she told reporters.
Another voter who expressed his happiness in being able to participate in the ongoing OV was Erwin Gutierrez, a Sharjah resident for 10 years.
The operations manager of a shipping company and first-time voter saw how God blessed the overseas Filipinos through the OV. He said they must not waste the opportunity to be given the chance to have a say in their nation-building. “We have to do our part even if it is God’s choice and will that will abide,” he said.
Meanwhile, while some went home disappointed because they were de-listed from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Certified List of Voters (CLOV) for failing to participate in the 2010 and 2013 OVs, this reporter also encountered a peculiar case.
This involved Physique TV producer Jellyn Gueco, who claimed that while she was informed by the PCGDXB that she was in the “active list of voters” as of Oct.31, 2015 and did not need to register, she discovered last March 20 that her name was no longer in the list.
According to her, she never missed any OV since 2004.
Gueco is awaiting a reply from the Comelec regarding her concern.
For the nth time and on Saturday, Cortes encouraged all registered Filipino voters from 2013 and who cast their vote in the 2010 and 2013, including those able to submit Comelec OV forms when they applied for or had their passport renewals and/or overseas exit certificates from 2013, “not to waste this opportunity”. (Mariecar Jara-Puyod /The Gulf Today)
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