Dubai: The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates has announced plans to reach out to individual Filipino organisations under its auspices for the Overseas Absentee Voter Registration (OAVR) to meet the target number of registrants before the deadline of registration in October this year. 

The OAVR allows Filipinos abroad to register to vote in absentia for the May 2013 local elections. Currently, there are 99 Filipino organisations accredited by the Philippine consulate which are members of the Filipino Community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates (Filcom-DNE). 

"We are encouraging the Filipino organisations under Filcom-DNE to set a date to organise themselves into a group of 150 or 200 people. For example, if one group in Jebel Ali can accomplish that, then we will bring the OAVR there," Vice-Consul Geronimo Suliguin told Gulf News. 

"We target around 12,000 registrants by the end of the registration period. But by the end of April, we really hope that we could reach the 4,00th mark," Suliguin added. 

In the past six months since the registration began, more than 2,000 Filipinos have registered their intention to participate in the coming polls. Filipinos have six months remaining before the registration period closes in October. 

Suliguin said his office is willing to bring the OAVR to the Filipino groups to avoid a repeat of their previous experience in the last polls when Filipinos had flooded their office for the voter registration two or three months before the deadline. 

Filcom-DNE president Alan Bacason welcomed the initiative. "It's a very promising move, a proactive plan by the Vice Consul and we can actually push through with that," Bacason said. 

"We have planned to bring the OAVR to some of our organization activities, the biggest one being the Philippine Independence Day celebration on June 8," Bacason said, adding that OAVR will also be available at the Filcom-DNE-sponsored Consular Service Friday on April 20 at the Philippine consulate. 

Currently, there are over 600,000 Filipino expatriates in the UAE, more than half of which reside in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.