Mr. Allan Casupanan assists Mrs. Gloria Calonge, the very first new Overseas Voter who registered in Israel this year.

06 May 2014 Tel Aviv, State of Israel. The Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv officially opened the 2014-2015 Overseas Voter (OV) registration today for Filipino nationals and their family members qualified to register and vote in Israel.

The Embassy is recognized by the Department of Foreign Affairs and COMELECfor its collective effort in registering more than 6,000 new overseas voters in 12 months for the 2013 midterm election, breaking all three previous individual registration figuresand the combined registrants from 2003 to 2009 and the 2012 in Israel.

In the last registration period, the Embassy garnered a total of 6,097 new registered potential voters which is the highest number ever delivered in Israel compared to the three individual previous registration periods: 1,518 in 2003, 1,288 in 2006 and 2,700 in 2009).

This all-time high figure translated to 110% improved performance than the total 5,506 figure for 2003-2010 and 418% higher than the 2012 target of 1,458 for Israel.

           Among the new registrants today include Embassy personnel and their family members currently residing in Israel.

In the last registration period, the Embassy remained among the top performing Posts in the Middle East and around the world in terms of garnering new registrants despite the much smaller Filipino community in Israel compared to those in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE.

Based on the 2010 Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) stock estimate, there are 35,700 OFWs and potential registrants/voters in Israel, approximating the long-held Embassy estimate of 35,000 to 41,000 but higher than the 2010 Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) official figure of 28,800regular Filipino workers currently in Israel.

Using the CFO figure, the total tally of 11,603 (6,097 + 5,506) so far represents32.5% penetration of the stock estimate which may be among the highest in the world ever attained by a Philippine Foreign Service Post.

For this registration period, the Embassy will be even more aggressive in employingeffective strategies such as the mass SMS transmission,mass media bulletins, Facebook postings, field registration activities all throughout Israel, and the combination of dual citizenship with OV registration within the same working day.

Philippine Ambassador to Israel Generoso D.G. Calonge is confident that the 7,000 new OV registration target will be breached again given the much longer registration period (06 May 2014 to 31 October 2015) and the streamlined registration form and procedures introduced by COMELEC. --END--