02 December 2016 —The Philippine Embassy in Prague led by Chargé d’affaires, a.i. Juan E. Dayang, Jr.  hosted 71 delegates attending the On-site Regional Training for the Resumption of Registration/Certification of Qualified Overseas Filipinos for the 2019 National Elections at the Hotel Century M Gallery by Sofitel, Prague, Czech Republic from November 15 to 18.

The four-day training seminar was organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS) and by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

Among the COMELEC officials in attendance as speakers and trainers were COMELEC Commissioner Christian Robert S. Lim and Commissioner Al A. Parreño, Atty. Bea Wee-Lozada, Director Teopisto Elnas, Jr., and Director Ferdinand de Leon from Comelec. 

The DFA-OVS was led by Special Senior Assistant Alex V. La Madrid together with Ms. Evelyn Frutas, Mr. Luiz Carlos Osoria, Mr. Arneil Sergio and Ms. Sarah B. Nacario of the Department of Foreign Affairs. 

Fifty-nine delegates from various Philippine Embassies and Consulates General in Milan, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland, and representatives from the Philippine Embassy in Tel, Aviv, Israel attended the training in Prague. 

Heads of Posts also attended the training.  Among them were ad interim Charge d’affaires of various Philippine Embassies in Europe, namely Mr. Charlie Manangan of Vatican, Mr. Alan Daniega of Brussels,   Mr. Emmanuel Fernandez of Madrid, Mr. Juan E. Dayang, Jr. of Prague and Mr. Gines Gallaga of Lisbon.  Consul-General Marichu Mauro led her team from of the Philippine Consulate in Milan, Italy.

For four days, the participants were trained on the rules and regulations of the registration for overseas voting for the upcoming national elections.  They were also oriented on how to operate the Voting Registration Machine.

Subsequently, the heads of delegation had a caucus with COMELEC officials on matters of policy and operations to ensure the success of the overseas voter registration.

The overseas voting registration will run from Decemer 01, 2016 to September 30, 2018. END