Walang kwenta ang mga tao sa embassy(RIYADH BASE). They don’t even give their best effort to to reach the thousands of Filipino and provide the correct information about the registration for the absentee voting. I mean, even I will be having second thoughts na pumunta ng embassy just to try my luck kung may registration ba pag Friday, i mean these people from the embassy, particularly the one who handles the registrations, at least makes some effort to give us some press release regarding this registration.
Paano magpaparehistro ang mga pinoy dito, wala silang tamang impormasyon kung paano magparehistro, kung anong araw, at kung hanggang anong oras at kung ano ang mga kailangan dalhin? alam nyo sa totoo lang kung gusto nilang hindi langawin ang registration sa Philippine embassy sa Riyadh, bakit kaya hindi sila lumabas ng airconditioned room nila para maka kuha ng botante. For example, why not have the registration outside where Filipinos always go. like in Batha, (place where filipino meet para maghuntahan) o kaya mag post sila sa bulletin board ng PINOY SUPERMARKET ng tamang impormasyon about absentee voters registration. Napakasimple lang ng pwede nilang gawin para maabot ang impormasyon to thousands of Filipinos here in Riyadh.
Dahil kung hindi nila gagawin ang labasin ang opisina nila para hikayatin ang mga pilipino na bumoto sas 2010 election, wala silang mahihita. sino tanga ang mamasahe sa taxi na 20 riyal ang minumum na pamasahe papuntang diplomatic quarter ng phil embassy para lang alamin kung pano sila makakapagparehistro. pusta ako sasabihin ng mga tamad na yan na may hotline numbers naman sila para mag inquire.
Pano pinagsisilbihan ng phil embassy ang mga taong gusto mag inquire through phone kung laging busy at kung hndi naman busy wala naman sumasagot sa pagpapasahan sayong extension number. At gano ba karaming pilipino ang nakakaalam ng numero na dapat tawagan kung gusto nila makontak ang phil embassy hotline. I dare them na magsurvey sila sa BATHA, (tambayan ng pinoy sa riyadh) walang nakaka-alam ng number ng phil embassy.
Paano pa kaya magtitiwala ang mga Pilipino sa riyadh sa halalan ng 2010 kung ang mismong embahada natin dito sa Riyadh ay hndi man lang maramdaman ang presence ng mga mas maraming pinoy na nagtratrabaho sa ibat ibang kumpanya na gusto malaman ang tamang impormasyon ng pagpaparehistro para sa absentee voting.
Magpramdam naman sana sila..
Popularity: 1% [?]
Try to do your part. Be patient, go on and register. I have a
busy schedule in my work. But, I take time to register. It is
my Patriotic Duty to participate and vote.
I won’t waste my time on this registration thing. If others feel like it’s their ‘patriotic’ duty (whatever that means) to register, then do it. Our Embassy is hopeless; the Philippine Government is hopeless. OFWs don’t even know where their fees are going; OWWA does not bother to issue any financial report. Don’t ever hope your ‘patriotic’ vote will ever be counted correctly. From Saudi to Manila is a long way…It took only a few minutes’ call from Malacanang to Garci’s house to change the whole outcome of the last elections.
I copied this from the website of DFA article “absentee voting registrants”
Overseas Absentee Voters Registrants Now Stand at 159,100
August 4, 2009 by DFA-PISU
PR-584-09, 4 August 2009 – The Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA-OAVS) announced that after six months, a total of 159,100 new Overseas Absentee Voters have registered under the Overseas Absentee Voting registration.
As of 31 July 2009, the following Foreign Service Posts garnered the most registrants: Hong Kong (16,332), Los Angeles (8,884), Dubai (8,602), Singapore (6,982), London (4,903), Riyadh (4,860), New York (4,484), Toronto (4,349), Tokyo (3,648), and Jeddah (3,516).
Closely behind the top ten posts are Washington D.C. (3,410), Brunei (3,164) and Chicago (3,114).
The OAV registration centers at NAIA, POEA, CFO and OWWA have also garnered 36,658 new registrants while MECO-Taipei contributed to OAV registration activities with 3,434 new registrants.
>>>>Maybe if you could get an estimate of Filipinos who should be registering there in Riyadh you would know that these figures are pretty low or good enough. Deadline for absentee voting registrants expires on Aug 31, 2009. i hope they will be able to get in time to adress your concern since they are intensifying their drive to absentee voting registrants for the days of this month.