Philippine Consulate sees record voter registrations for upcoming election

The Philippine Consulate General in Macau has briefed association leaders on the overseas voting for the upcoming Philippine Presidential Election which will run from April 10 to May 9.

The polling station will be at the Harborview Hotel for the first time.

The station will be open for voting for 30 calendar days from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., except on the first and last days, when it will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., respectively.

Officials remind voters to not wear any political colors at the venue since candidates in the ongoing Philippine presidential campaign have used certain colors as part of their political branding.

The consulate also reminds qualified Filipinos to vote and not wait until the last minute, and encouraged the citizens to “use social media responsibly.” Social media has become a key battleground in the upcoming election, and many fear that fake news or disinformation could make the already intense race even more toxic.

More than 65 million Filipinos have registered to vote in the country and another 1.8 million have done so overseas.

The Times has obtained access to the certified list of voters for the Macau jurisdiction, which shows that over 14,630 Macau-based workers are registered – a surge of nearly 200% compared to the number of voters in the last presidential election in 2016.

However, it is still unknown what the turnout will be, given that some 5,761 workers have been repatriated since the start of the pandemic. 

Back in 2016, only about 5,000 of the workers were registered voters.

On the last day of Overseas Voters Registration on October 18, several hundred flocked to the consulate’s office which required the intervention of the Public Security Police for the long queue surrounding the AIA Tower.

About a dozen Filipinos showed support for the son of the late dictator, Marcos Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. on the last day of registration by wearing red t-shirts, while several dozen of them gave verbal expressions of support.

Back in November, the Philippine Consulate General in Macau called on the Filipino community to refrain from organizing public gatherings without obtaining prior permits from the relevant Macau authorities. 

This comes after a group of the community gathered on a Sunday, wearing red shirts at the Ruins of St. Paul and another at Sai Van Lake – which led to authorities detaining over a dozen people for 24 hours for holding a demonstration without permission.

The main candidates for the presidential election include Marcos Jr., current vice-president Leni Robredo, and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.