UNITED Filipino Organization President Marcelo “Mar” Masilungan is encouraging Filipinos in the CNMI to exercise their right to vote.
United Filipino Organization president Marcelo “Mar” Masilungan, right, casts his absentee ballot during the Philippine consular outreach services at Hotel Sun Palace in Susupe on Saturday. Also in photo is consulate volunteer Jun Laceperos Jr.
“Filipino citizens who are abroad have a responsibility to participate in their nation’s political process by registering and voting in elections — that is the reason why the absentee voting law exists,” he said.
“Even if we are working outside our home country, we are still given the right to participate in the election process so we’ll have the chance to choose who will lead our country for a better future,” he added.
“I encourage all my ‘kababayans’ here in the CNMI to make sure your name is on the list of absentee voters. Let your voice be heard. Vote!” Masilungan said.
A team from the Philippine Consulate General on Guam is conducting a four-day consular outreach services and mobile voting on Saipan that started on April 29 and will conclude on May 2 at Hotel Sun Palace in Susupe.
The Philippines is holding its national election on Monday, May 9, 2022.
Registered Filipino voters on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan started receiving their absentee ballots after the consulate on Guam mailed them on April 10, 2022.
Absentee Filipino voters will choose their candidates for president, vice president, 12 senators, and a party-list group for the House of Representatives.
According to the Philippine Commission on Elections or Comelec, there are over 1.7 million registered absentee Filipino voters worldwide. Of this number, Comelec said 2,946 have registered in the CNMI, 7,796 on Guam, 861 in Palau, 273 in the FSM and 81 in the Marshall Islands.
The Philippines has a total of 67.5 million registered voters, Comelec said.